Together We'll Fight
by angelofdarkness78
Summary: BTVS,Roswell,DA xover. The transgenics' battle with the Familiars becomes perilous when their foes become allies with vamps and aliens. A 12 year old pops up out of nowhere with no clue of her past. The end of their battle is near, but who will prevail?
1. New Acquaintances

Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel, Roswell, or BTVS. I only own my own characters Coco, Emerald, Ruby, Aqua, and Crystal.

A/N: Please review and give me feedback. This story is posted in two or three places. The Dark Angel category, the BTVS Crossovers category, and maybe the TV crossovers section.

Summary: This is a crossover between BTVS, Dark Angel, and Roswell. This is after the siege at Terminal city, set in the Dark Angel timeline, so some time around the year 2020 or so. Max (Dark Angel Max, not Roswell Max) finds out that White has gotten hold of Lydecker's old list of the rogue X5s' locations, and must race against him to save her siblings and once they're all together, they must fight against White and his Familiars and the new enemy, the Purests, who have formed an alliance with White. P.S. I'll make sure you know when I'm talking about Max from Roswell and Max from Dark Angel.

* * *

"Hey, B!" Faith said. "Over here!" She waved her friend over to where she, Xander, Willow, Spike and Dawn were sitting. Buffy made her way over to the table, squeezing through the people in the bar. When she finally got there and sat down, she wiped the sweat off her forehead and whistled.

"Whoa, there are a lot of people here tonight," she said.

"Yeah, well it is New Years," Xander pointed out.

"True," Buffy said.

"You look wiped B," Willow said.

"Yeah, just kicked a few vampire heads off their bodies," she said nonchalantly. "No big."

Dawn laughed. "You must have a nice neck sis 'cause they always seem to go after you."

"Yeah well, I will only allow one vamp to bite my neck," Buffy said, and Spike grinned.

"Oh, get a room, this is sickening, and in front of a youngster too," Willow said.

"Hey!" Dawn said. "I resent that."

Just then their friends Coco and Crystal came over. For some reason, Buffy always felt like Faith had some special connection to these girls, because when Buffy first introduced the three, they almost seemed to know each other already, except that they didn't recognize each other at first. She shrugged it off, but the feeling always came back. These girls reminded Buffy of Faith, the way they moved and acted. Faith had an annoying habit to sneak up on her without her knowing, which is odd because being a slayer made Buffy very alert. She also felt a little hurt because she and Faith had always been best friends, but when Coco and Crystal were there it was almost as if they knew Faith better than her.

"Hey girls," Faith said brightly.

"Hey," Coco said. She looked at Buffy a little concerned. "You okay? Seem a little out of breath."

"Kick some vampire ass?" Crystal said, grinning.

Buffy smiled at them. 'I can't believe I was jealous of them before,' she thought. 'They're the nicest girls.' "Damn straight," Buffy said.

Coco laughed. "Nice." She looked at everyone else. "Any of you guys wanna burn off the dance floor?"

"I'm up," Willow said.

"Sure thing," Dawn said, getting up.

"Ready," Faith said, then she looked at Buffy. Buffy shrugged. "Oh, why the hell not? You boys coming?" she asked.

Xander and Spike shook their heads. "Nah, you lasses go have fun," Spike said.

"Aiight, cool," Crystal said, and the 6 girls headed for the dance floor.

* * *

Liz DeLuca sat in her physics class, bored out of her mind. 'This stuff's so easy, I have the friggin' IQ of a genius, and I have to listen to this snore teaching me stuff that I already know,' she thought. She considered showing the teacher up when he made a mistake in one of his calculations just to shake things up a little but then sighed and went back to being bored. 'I have to play things down, make sure they don't realize that I'm different.'

The bell rang, and she trudged out, books weighing her arms down.

"Liz!" someone called. "Wait up!" Max Evans ran down the hall to catch up with his girlfriend. "You okay? You seem sorta out of it."

"Just bored out of my mind," she said. "Don't worry, I'm fine." They walked to their next class together and sat down, waiting for their friends to arrive. A few minutes later, Isabel, Michael, Maria, Jesse and Kyle all walked in and took their seats.

Then their math teacher walked in and made a special announcement. "Everybody, we have 3 new students joining us today. I want you to be nice to them and show them around." She waved three equally beautiful girls into the classroom. Almost all the boys practically drooled. "This is Emerald Vice," she said, pointing to a girl dressed in a green halter top and blue hip huggers, with long jet black hair and tanned skin, "Ruby Trout," she continued, pointing to a girl with wavy, fiery red hair and a pale complexion with a few freckles, shorter than the first by a bit, wearing a blood red camisole top and tight fitting jeans, "And finally Aqua Stevenson," she finished off, pointing to a girl with short blonde hair, wearing a sky blue tank top and black leather pants. "Welcome them and make them feel at home at our school."

The teacher nodded to the three girls and they took their seats close to where Liz and her friends were sitting. When the three girls passed Liz, she felt a jolt of electricity shoot up her spine, and apparently the girls did too because they stopped and looked at her curiously.

_Flashback_

_On the night of the escape, four girls were running through the snow wearing only grey hospital gowns, the cold wind chilling them as they ran. Even though they all had buzz cuts, you could tell that two girls had dark black hair, one had blonde and the other red. One of the girls with black hair was lagging behind. The redhead turned. "Liz! Hurry up! They're coming!"_

"_Wait up Ruby! I'm so tired."_

_The blonde ran to her younger sister and took her hand. "Keep running Liz. The Tac Teams are out there. We can't get caught."_

"_I know Aqua," the young Liz said. "I'm trying." She put on a little more speed but the Tac Teams were right behind them on their snowmobiles. One of them taser shocked Liz and she fell to the ground. "Liz!" the other dark haired girl screamed._

"_Run!" Liz screamed. "Aqua, Ruby, Emerald, run! Leave me and go!"_

_They looked at each other in indecision but after Liz told them to go once more, they turned around and ran. The Tac Team surrounded Liz but there was no way they were going to take her back to that hell. Manticore. She took up a fighting stance and knocked out every last soldier. 'I won't be the only one left behind,' she thought, and continued running, jumping over the perimeter fence. At last she was free._

_End flashback_

Liz's friends looked between Liz and the three new girls. They were just staring at each other, eyes glazed over. "Liz?" Maria asked. "You in there?"

At the same time, all four girls snapped out of their flashback, instantly recognizing each other. They all smiled but didn't say anything and Emerald, Ruby, and Aqua took their seats. Maria looked at the others, wondering why Liz spaced out. Liz just smiled to herself. Maybe things were looking up.

* * *

Max sat at her desk, writing down a list of things that Terminal City was running low on.

"Weapons, food, and just about everything else in this God forsaken world," she muttered. She slammed her pencil down and ran her fingers through her hair. She was tired, she hadn't slept for days, and she felt dull. She needed a change in herself and a break from all the work. She stood up and looked at herself in a mirror.

"Where did I go?" she asked herself. She used to be a tough, bad-ass chick who oozed fire and attitude, and the person she saw in the mirror was dull and boring with no personality at all. She got an idea and left her office to go to her room.

* * *

"Hey guys, any of you seen Max?" Alec asked. "She's not in her office."

"I'm right here," she said, in a voice that was different than usual. It portrayed confidence, playfulness and a bit of sexuality. He turned around and got sticker shock. She looked completely different! Her hair was now curly and up to her shoulders, and she looked like she was glowing. It was so different than what she looked like before, still beautiful but before she sort of became withdrawn.

"Maxie, you look… Well, like someone else!" Alec exclaimed. "Your hair looks great by the way."

She blushed, which was very unlike Max. "Thanks, I decided I needed a change. This was actually how it looked like before I went back to Manticore." "This is how I used to be," she said in a quieter tone.

"Well, it's great," Alec said grinning. "Come on, time for dinner."

Her face fell. "Oh crap, I forgot about the list of what we needed. I was supposed to line up some buyers. All just to change my stupid hair," she muttered.

"Maxie, it's fine, I did it," he said. "It's about time you had a break, it's well deserved."

"Thanks," she said warmly. "I really do appreciate the help you've been giving me."

Alec laughed. "If I had known you would actually be nice and not so physically abusive to me just by changing your hair, I would have made you do this a long time ago."

Max rolled her eyes and punched his shoulder. "Come on, Golden Boy, dinner awaits."

Alec rubbed his arm and followed her. "And the abuse lives on," he muttered, then grinned.

* * *

Logan was all set up to go to Terminal City. Dix had found out that the toxins weren't as bad as they thought and that it would be safe for ordinaries to be there. 'This way I can help Max with whatever she needs,' he thought. Original Cindy walked into his penthouse apartment.

"Hey boo, ya ready to go see Max?" she asked.

"Yeah, let's go."

* * *

Max, still in a good mood from her change, waltzed into T.C.'s HQ.

"How's it going, boys?" she asked Dix, Luke and Mole, three anomalies.

Mole looked at her. "What's up with you princess? Get laid or something?"

"Nope," she said grinning. "Oh." She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a bag and handed it to Mole. "Here ya go."

He looked at it, and curiously opened the bag. He grinned at her. "You know princess, you should stay on whatever drug you're taking if it makes you buy me Cuban cigars."

"Consider it a New Years gift," she said.

"I like your hair Max," Dix said shyly.

She smiled. "Thanks Dix. Whatcha got for me? White up to anything?"

"So far no," Dix said.

"Probably doesn't want to show his face for a while after that humiliation at Jam Pony," Luke said. He brightened. "Oh well, the better for us."

"Yeah," Max said.

"Hey Max," a voice said.

She whirled around. "Logan. Hey. Oh right, you're moving in today. So sorry, I forgot. Where's Cindy?"

"Settling in," he said. "Like your hair. It's like it was before."

"Yeah," she said.

Mole made a grunting sound. It was no secret that he didn't like this ordinary. Sketchy he didn't mind because he was an idiot and good entertainment, Cindy he didn't mind because she had an attitude similar to his own, but Logan… well, the computer nerd just got on his nerves.

"Hey Mole," Logan said politely. He walked towards the lizard man. "Here. New Years gift."

Mole took the bag and inside found more Cuban cigars. He grinned again. "I'm starting to like this ordinary holiday."

Logan gave Dix a nice piece of computer equipment, Luke a really nice baseball and Max a necklace.

They all said their thanks, then Dix said, "Holy jamolee."

"What?" Max asked.

"I just hacked into White's main database," he said, stunned.

* * *

"You girls have fun?" Xander asked.

"Yup," Coco said.

"I'm wiped," Buffy said. "But it was a blast."

"We better get home, it's getting late," Crystal said.

"K, see you guys," Faith said.

They left. "We better get going too," Buffy said. "Are all of you staying over at our place tonight?"

"Yeah," Willow said.

"Let's go then," Dawn said.

They made their way home, but Buffy held out an arm when she heard something. They all looked at each other and said, "Vamps."

They headed towards the park where the noise was coming from. Just then a hideously ugly vampire jumped up and wrapped his hand around Buffy's throat. She did a roundhouse kick to his head which flew off and burst into dust. Faith punched another in the gut, did a triple back flip then landed and gave it a solid blow to the neck, dusting that one too. When she was done the others were staring at her.

"What?" she asked.

"How did you do that?" Buffy asked. "You're fighting differently than usual."

"Just a new technique I picked up," she said, trying to sound as casual as she could. 'Yeah, that and the fact that kicking ass is sort of bred into me,' she thought.

"Right," Willow said. "Come on, it's dark, let's get home."

They all headed back towards Buffy's and Dawn's house, Faith trying to ignore the inquisitive looks Buffy was giving her.

'She's hiding something from me again,' Buffy thought, hurt. 'Why doesn't she trust me?'

* * *

A/N: Hope you liked that. Please review! 


	2. Secrets and Lies

Disclaimer: By now you should know that I don't own anything other than my own characters Coco, Crystal, Aqua, Emerald and Ruby.

A/N: Please keep reviewing guys! It's greatly appreciated!

* * *

When class let out, Liz immediately went over to the girls and they all hugged each other.

"What the hell?" Isabel said. "Does she know them?"

The others shrugged and walked up to the four girls.

"I can't believe it's you!" Aqua squealed.

"It's great to see you little sister!" Ruby said.

"We thought you were caught, Liz," Emerald said. "Don't ever scare us like that again, got it sis?"

Liz laughed. "Got it."

"Little sister? Caught? What's going on Liz?" Maria asked.

"These are my sisters," Liz said, a big smile on her face.

"Sisters?" Maria said again. "I don't get it, you guys don't look anything alike."

"We only grew up together when we were kids, but we were so close that we considered each other family, thus sisters," Emerald explained.

"We have a big family," Ruby said. "It's not just us."

"Oh," Maria said. She was a little hurt because she and Liz had also grown up together, ever since they were nine. Liz was Maria's adopted sister, and she felt like they were the closest ever. But now she found other girls who were just as close to Liz, maybe even closer, and she felt left out.

Aqua was very sensitive to people's feelings, and was always good at reading people's faces and knowing how they were feeling. By the girl's tone, she felt that she was jealous and the odd one out so Aqua turned to her.

"What's your name?" Aqua asked the girl.

The girl blinked, surprised that the blonde was talking to her.

"Ma-Maria. I'm Liz's adopted sister," she stuttered.

Aqua smiled. "Nice to meet you." She looked at the others who were just standing around, shuffling their feet. "And you guys?"

"The guy standing over there is my boyfriend, Maxwell, beside him are Michael and Isabel, and beside Maria are Jesse and Kyle," Liz said.

"Cool," Ruby said. A thought occurred to her. "Hey, there's a new dance club opening tonight, called Flash, wanna come? That way we can catch up with Liz, get to know you guys better _and_ dance at the same time. Whaddaya say?"

Kyle shrugged. "I got nothing better to do tonight."

"Me neither," Isabel said. The others said the same.

"Great," said Emerald, smiling. "Then we'll meet you guys there around eightish?"

"Sure," Max said.

"Maria, do you mind if I get ready over at the girls' house? I just sort of want to spend some time with them," Liz said.

A few minutes ago and Maria would have been jealous but these girls were friendly and right now she didn't mind. "No, go ahead."

"Thanks," Liz said.

They went to lunch, and all started to get to know each other.

* * *

Ever since the incident in the park the night before, Faith had been avoiding Buffy's gaze. Finally, she had had enough and decided to get some answers.

She opened the door to the room where Faith was staying and sat down on her bed. Faith looked up.

"What is it B?" she asked.

"You," Buffy said. "I feel like I don't know you anymore. You don't talk to me like you used to. You start fighting completely differently. And I get the feeling you're keeping secrets. We're best friends Faith, but I feel like you don't trust me anymore."

Faith just looked at her, struggling not to reveal the truth. It was hard keeping her secret from Buffy, she wanted to tell her, but she knew she couldn't. It could endanger her more than she already was. Faith knew Manticore was gone because on TV it said that a bunch of freaks and mutants were roaming the cities, but that didn't mean there weren't other people looking to kill her. It was no wonder, she was worth millions. And on top of the fact that she was a genetically engineered supersoldier, she was also a slayer with powers.

She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She didn't know what to say. Finally, she just looked at Buffy, and prayed to the Blue Lady that she would accept the bullshit excuse she was going to give her.

"I do trust you B," she said. "I do with my life. The whole fighting thing was seriously just a new technique I picked up and tried out. And I talk to you B, it's just…" She sighed. "I'm sorry, it's just that maybe being a slayer is getting to me. There have been more vampires in Sunnydale recently and I'm wondering if that's what I'm going to do all my life. Just slay one vampire after another, and the truth is, I'm sick of it. I'm going to keep doing it, of course, but still. I just think a lot more than I used to and that's why I haven't been talking to you."

_Liar, liar, pants on fire,_ a voice said in her head. 'That was the lamest excuse ever,' Faith thought. 'I love slaying vampires. I guess the soldier in me loves to fight.'

But it looked like Buffy had accepted her answer. "Okay." The girls hugged and Faith felt guilty. 'I'm sorry I can't tell you B, but it has to be this way.'

* * *

"What's on the database?" Max asked, coming down from her cheery mood and becoming serious.

"It's. Holy, it's a list of locations on the rogue X5s," Dix said.

"My brothers and sisters," Max whispered. "Are they recent?"

"I don't know. But if they haven't moved since the last time then maybe they're still at these locations," Dix said. "It looks like this was Lydecker's list but White found it when he was killed."

Max quickly scanned the list. It said:

X5-379 a.k.a. Ruby – Last known location: San Diego  
X5-254 a.k.a. Aqua – Last known location: San Diego  
X5-462 a.k.a. Emerald – Last known location: San Diego  
X5-275 a.k.a. Crystal – Last known location: Wisconsin  
X5-672 a.k.a. Coco – Last known location: Wisconsin  
X5-210 a.k.a. Jondy – Last known location: San Francisco  
X5-205 a.k.a. Zane – Last known location: Los Angeles  
X5-518 a.k.a. Faith – Last known location: Sunnydale  
X5-603 a.k.a. Liz – Last known location: Roswell  
X5-701 a.k.a. Syl – Last known location: Boston  
X5-471 a.k.a. Krit – Last known location: Minnesota  
X5-823 a.k.a. Tawny – Last known location: Chicago  
X5-573 a.k.a. Michael – Last known location: Detroit  
X5-375 a.k.a. Bobby – Last known location: Detroit  
X5-742 a.k.a. Evan – Last known location: Detroit  
X5-562 a.k.a. Jordan – Last known location: Detroit  
X5-452 a.k.a. Max – Last known location: Seattle

Whereabouts of X5-599, X5-798, and X5-734 unknown.

"Whoa. And Zack told me that 2 X5s in the same city was too much, here there's 3 or 4," Max said. 'Zack…' she thought. She missed him so much, sometimes she wished she could turn back the clock and undo what she had done. She needed him now, more than ever. Zack had always mattered to her more than Logan for some reason, but she couldn't very well let Logan be killed. The thing is, when he had tried to kiss her, she hadn't wanted to pull away. She only did so because she thought she was betraying Logan and also because she was surprised. It was a weird feeling, and it scared her, because you weren't supposed to want your brother to kiss you. She snapped out of her thoughts and turned to Logan.

"Logan, please find Alec for me, I need to get to my siblings before White does and I'll need his help."

Logan nodded, the hate that had been there for the transgenic a few weeks earlier was gone because they had told him that they weren't really together. He went off to find him.

Max bit her lip. "I can't believe Deck knew almost all of our locations. And we thought that we had been well hidden."

"Yeah, but he hadn't told anyone," Dix pointed out. "Maybe he just wanted to know where you were to help you if needed."

"Now that's a demented thought. What's sick is that I think Deck actually did love us in his own way. I gotta hand it to him, he sure knew how to screw with people's minds. First he was a bad guy, then he helped us blow up Manticore, then he's a sort of loving father figure? Messed," Max said.

Something just registered in her brain. "Wait a minute, it also says that he couldn't find Brin. Brin's alive?"

"Looks like it," Mole grunted. "So what, you gonna save your rugrat brothers and sisters?"

"Yeah. If you help me I'll get you more cigars," Max said.

A smile spread over his face. "Now we're talking."

* * *

"What's taking them so long?" Isabel asked.

"Who knows?" Michael said. "Girls take a long time to get dressed, yourself and Maria excluded."

They were all a little uncomfortable in the dance club, none of them really having been to one before. The Kyle made a sort of gasping noise and they looked at the entrance.

Four gorgeous girls walked in, all male eyes on them. What Max saw made his jaw drop.

Aqua came in wearing a black leather jacket, a sparkly blue halter top and tight leather pants. Emerald had on a black leather jacket, a forest green off-the-shoulder top and black leather pants. Liz and Ruby were also wearing the trademark black leather jacket and pants, except that Ruby had on a brilliant red tank top and Liz had a tight black tube top. The four made their way onto the dance floor and danced in the middle, completely in sync. Their movements were low and sinuous which made all of the boys' eyebrows go up, way up.

"Oh my god," Maria breathed. "Liz completely transformed."

"What happened to your girlfriend Max?" Jesse asked. "She's usually shy, quiet and conservative, and now she's outgoing, confident and dancing like she doesn't have a care in the world.

"I don't know," Max said. But he liked what he saw.

After the song ended, the girls made their way over to their friends and all of them just stared at them blankly.

"What?" Liz asked them.

"You're so… different," Max said. "But a good different."

The girls laughed.

"Different?" Ruby said. "Believe me, Lizzy here is a wolf in sheep's clothing. She's been like this forever."

"You're kidding," Kyle said faintly.

They all laughed again, and Liz motioned for them to follow.

"We're at a dance club, it's to dance," she said.

The boys shook their head. "Dancing isn't for us," Jesse said. "It's hopeless, believe us. Go do what you want."

Maria spoke up quietly. "I'm not very good at dancing."

"Me neither," Isabel said.

Emerald smiled kindly at them. "Well, that's why we're here. Come on, we'll teach you and soon you'll be able to do everything. Mambo, cha cha, hip hop, reggae, garage…"

Maria laughed. "Alright, we get it. Let's go."

* * *

"You get the feeling something's off with Faith?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah, and everyday it's getting stronger," Willow responded. "I mean, she's a great friend and I trust her, it's just that there's definitely something she doesn't want us to know."

"She's been acting strange lately," Xander said. "But you know what's funny? Coco and Crystal remind me so much of Faith. I don't know why, but every time I look at them Faith's face pops into my head."

"Get the feeling that those three are connected, dontcha?" Spike asked.

"Yeah," Dawn said. "That's it exactly."

"Well, Faith is closest to Buffy. We'll let her handle it," Willow said. "Besides, if there's something personal that Faith doesn't want us to know, then she should be able to keep it a secret. We don't have to know _everything_ about her personal life."

"Yeah, but still," Dawn said. "She's hiding something. And I get the feeling it's something big."

* * *

A/N: Did you guys like it? I know it's not my best work sorry, but keep reading and reviewing please! I would greatly appreciate it. Give me some feedback if you have any. Review!

Thanks to –

shygirl1 – Thanks for reviewing!

Angel Of Darkness231 – Thanks for reviewing! Way ahead of you, Alec's going to be treated nicely by Max, (except some friendly punches and stuff LOL) and I was planning from the start to pair him off with Faith. I think they would be great together, don't you?

Keep reviewing please!


	3. Race against time and White

Disclaimer: Don't own anything except my own characters

A/N: Please review this guys, I really need your opinions. Thanks :)

* * *

"You all set?" Max asked Alec.

"Yup. I still can't believe you asked me to come along on the 'let's save my family' escapade, Maxie," he said. "I never knew you enjoyed my company so much, I'm touched, really." He put a hand to his heart.

She rolled her eyes and swatted him. "Come on, there's no time to lose. Who knows how long White's had their locations. Please."

The look on her face made him turn serious immediately. He knew how much her family meant to her and for all they knew White could already have them.

"I'm sorry Maxie," he said genuinely. "We'll get to them before White does, don't worry."

They walked into the room where a bunch of transgenics were waiting. Alec cleared his throat and they all looked at him.

"Now, we need to get to these transgenics before White does," Alec started. "That means we need to be cunning and fast. It's a race against White. And that means there are probably going to be complications. If you see White heading towards where one of these transgenics supposedly are, call for backup and someone will try to make a diversion for you to escape with the transgenic. Remember, they might be suspicious of you. They know people are still hunting them so make sure that you show them your barcodes and tell them that Max sent you. Say her designation and get the hell outta there. Once you're in the clear and you have the transgenic, radio in so we can check that person off our list. If you get there and the transgenic is nowhere to be found, that probably means that they have moved and all we can do is hope for the best that they're fine. I know this is no easy task to do because the locations are very vague and you'll have to spread out into the city to find the transgenic, but please try your best. In a moment, you will all be split up to find a certain transgenic and we will give you our best description of him or her. Max and I will be going around to every single place so you may see us, but focus on your task. Keep in mind, if you see White, don't underestimate him. He's not a regular human and he can fight just as well as we can, plus he can't feel pain. Now line up and we'll give you your coms. and everything else."

The transgenics, X series and anomalies alike, lined up. If this had been a while ago, they wouldn't have wanted to help these transgenics because they were 09'ers. But most of them had met Max and liked her, so their reservations were gone. Besides, they were all in this together now. White was their enemy as well as the 09'ers, so that made them allies.

All the coms. and radios were given out, as well as maps and weaponry. Max walked up to 5 X5s.

"You 5 will be going to San Francisco," she said. "You are looking for a girl named Jondy, X5-210. She should have blonde hair, but knowing Jondy she probably dyed it. She's about my height, with blue eyes. Try looking for her in places like bars or somewhere close to a mall."

The X5s nodded and left.

She went to the next 4 in line. 1 X4, 2 X5s and an X6.

"You guys will be going to San Diego. Look for 3 girls names Emerald, Ruby and Aqua, designations 462, 379 and 254. Emerald has green eyes and jet black hair. Ruby should be a little shorter, fiery red hair and green eyes. Aqua's petite, blonde hair and blue eyes. Go."

At the end of the line, Alec was doing the same thing to a group of X6s and 1 X5.

"You guys are going to Detroit, there are four guys you are looking for. Michael, 573, Bobby, 375, Evan, 742 and Jordan, 562. They should all have similar builds and heights, although Max says Michael and Jordan are slightly taller than the others. All brownish hair except for Evan's, which is black. Go to all the places where guys usually hang out, bars, frat houses, sports games, everywhere."

That group left. Max and Alec continued on until they were the only ones left.

"I guess we have Liz to do," Max said.

"Roswell, here we come," Alec said.

* * *

"Sir, are you ready to go capture the rogue X5s?" Otto asked White.

"I'm always ready to get rid of transgenic filth," White said. 'Especially because they're 452's family. This should be interesting. The little bitch won't be so high and mighty when I hold a gun to one of her brothers' or sisters' head.'

"Where to first, Sir?" Otto asked.

"Roswell, it's closest," he said, and they walked out.

* * *

At school next day, Liz had the feeling that something was off. It came with being transgenic. It was almost as if they had a sixth sense, but it was really just awareness. She walked up to her sisters.

"Guys, something's wrong," she said.

"You feel it too?" Emerald asked.

"I thought I was the only one," Ruby said.

"Something's gonna happen," Aqua said. Being the most sensitive to the things around her, Aqua was usually right when she predicted something.

The girls all looked at each other. "Could it be Manticore?" Liz asked.

Ruby shook her head, her red curls flying. "Manticore's gone. But there are other people out there who are looking to kill us."

Liz rubbed her arms, which now had goosebumps. "What do you think's going to happen, Aqua?"

"What does she think what's going to happen?" Max asked, coming up behind her.

They all stopped talking and Liz fumbled around in her brain for an excuse.

"Uhh, it's nothing," Liz said.

Max looked at her weirdly but didn't say anything.

"So," Emerald said, changing the subject. "Heard that they were going to start a football team. Any of you thinking to join?"

"I am," Jesse said.

"Yeah, me too," Michael said.

"Cool," Emerald said. "I might join too, it sounds fun."

"No offense or anything, but girls don't usually like sports like football," Kyle said. "They think it's rough and are afraid to break a nail. How come you like it?"

"My whole family does," Emerald said. "Besides." She grinned. "I've been known to be a little rough myself and I'm not afraid of a challenge."

Kyle raised his eyebrows and grinned. He was starting to like this girl.

* * *

On the ride over to Roswell, Alec wouldn't stop yapping. He'd talk about one thing, then another without taking a breath. In the past Max would probably get irritated and hit him or tell him to shut up, but she just laughed and talked with him. It was funny how things changed. Oh, she still found him a pain-in-the-ass, but now it was almost as if calling him one was endearing. It was nice to know that some things didn't change, and the familiarity was what comforted her. The funny thing was, Alec took it upon himself to protect her all the time, and he became something like a brother she could depend on. Max guessed the saying was true, times change and people do too.

"Hey Maxie, just asking, is this Liz person really hot?" Alec asked.

_SMACK_

Okay, so maybe not everything changed.

* * *

"We're almost at Roswell, Sir," Otto said. "Where should we start looking for the girl?"

"We're going to try all schools first," White said. He grinned. 'I've got you now.'

* * *

"Maxie," Alec said, trying to wake Max up. "Maxie, we're here. Hey Maxie, Maxie Max."

Max yawned and stretched, then looked at her surroundings. Sure enough, there was a sign that said, "Welcome To Roswell".

"So, Maxie Max, where you wanna go first?" he asked her.

She rolled her eyes at the new nickname he seemed to have given her, and said, "Schools first."

Alec looked at his map. "There aren't many," he said. "Most popular one here is Roswell High."

"Then let's go," Max said. Unbeknownst to her, White was heading for the same place.

* * *

"We're in Detroit," an X5 named Gregory said.

"Great," the X6 called Jason said. "Alec said that we should look where guys hang out. How about we check the frat houses first? There aren't many of them."

"Good idea," the X6 named Fred said. He drove to the Frat house called "Hindred Place".

The 3 X6s and X5 walked into the frat house, going straight to the lady at the front desk.

"May I help you?" she asked.

The 3rd X6, James, smiled at the woman and said, "Yes. We're looking for our friends Michael, Jordan, Evan and Bobby. They should be expecting us but we don't know what room they're in. And we forgot their last names, sorry."

The lady smiled at them. "No problem, I know who you're talking about. Very charming young men, always hang out together. Room 113, go down the hall on your left."

"Thanks," James said, and they all walked towards the dorm.

Gregory knocked on the door and a moment later a man with black hair and green eyes opened the door.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Can we come in?" Gregory asked.

The man looked at them quizzically then sighed and let them in. The Xs looked around and saw that the room was fairly neat and had two bunk beds. They saw 3 other men lounging about.

"Hey, Ev, who are they?" one of them asked.

Evan shrugged. "Dunno. Whaddaya want?"

Gregory nodded at Fred and he closed the door. Evan looked slightly more cautious. "Who are you?" he asked.

All the Xs turned around and showed the four men their barcodes. They turned back and saw the four rogues come towards them, looking slightly surprised.

"Why are you here?" said one of them, who was slightly taller than the rest so they presumed him to be Michael or Jordan.

"Your sister sent us," Jason explained.

Evan looked at them suspiciously. "Which one?"

"Your youngest sister. Designation 452. Name's Max."

All their eyes widened and they looked at each other.

"Max is alive?" Evan said to his brother.

"Zack never told me anything," the man said.

"Me neither, Jordan," another said. He turned to the last one. "You, Bobby?"

Bobby shook his head. "No, Mike." He looked at the Xs. "Why should we believe you?"

"Look," Gregory said impatiently. "We have to leave now. She sent us because she's the leader of our freak nation, our enemy White found out your locations and he probably sent one of his freaky cult buddies on the way here right now. I know this is a lot to take in, but between us, who are regular X series that you can probably take out, and this evil guy whose a Familiar and has transgenic reflexes and can't feel pain, who would you pick?"

The four men looked at each other than followed the other four Xs to their car.

* * *

"We have, I repeat, we have, the four transgenics from Detroit," Jason's voice said over the radio. Dix took his list and crossed off four names from it. Then he took his own radio and said, "Thank you Jason. We got it. No problems?"

"None," Jason said. "White didn't show up."

"Good. Out."

Dix then called Alec's cell phone. "Alec, tell Max we got her four brothers in Detroit. No complications."

* * *

Alec hung up his cell phone. He looked at Max. "Four down, we got Michael, Bobby, Jordan and Evan. White didn't show up either."

Max sighed in relief. "Let's hope karma's making a comeback."

They pulled up in front of Roswell High and walked towards the almost empty field.

They both scanned it and Max gasped. "Oh my God, I see Liz! And with her she's got Emerald, Ruby, and Aqua!"

Alec smiled. "Maybe this is going to be easier than we thought. 8 of your siblings in only a few hours."

"Come on," Max said. "White could still show up any moment. We have got to get them and get out of here."

They walked over to where her four sisters were sitting.

* * *

"Hey, who is that gorgeous girl walking over here?" Michael asked.

Liz and her sisters looked up and the air seemed to rush from their lungs. They would recognize their baby sister anywhere.

"Whoa, I can't believe it. She's here!" Aqua said.

"I thought she died!" Emerald said.

"Zack never mentioned anything," Liz said.

"Who's Zack?" Max asked jealously but Liz ignored him and ran up to her sister.

"Maxie!" she screamed and they ran into each others arms and hugged tightly.

When they pulled back there were tears in both the girls' eyes. Max went up to Emerald, Ruby and Aqua and they repeated the hugging session.

"I can't believe it's you!" Emerald said. "We missed you so much baby sister."

"Wait, baby sister?" Maria asked. "You're another sister?"

Ruby laughed. "We weren't kidding when we said we had a big family. There's more than ten of us."

"Oh," Maria said.

"Who's this?" Aqua asked, pointing to Alec.

"Ben!" Liz yelled and ran to hug him too.

Maxwell's jealousy was growing by the second. 'Who are these people?' he thought.

Alec chuckled and gently pried Liz's arms off him. "Sorry, Liz, but I'm not Ben."

Liz stood back. "What?"

"This is Ben's clone," Max explained. "494. But we can introduce everyone later, we have to get out of here."

Maria stepped in front of Liz. "You are not taking my sister away. You may have known her for a long time but she's my adopted sister. You are not taking her away."

Max sighed. "Look, I'm sorry, but you don't understand. This is an emergency."

"What type of emergency?" Maria asked.

Max felt like pulling at her hair. "Look, we don't have time to explain this. Liz, Ruby, Aqua, Emerald. You need to come with me. White knows your location and he's probably sent someone here to kill you. We need to go before they get here."

"Kill them?" Isabel asked, stunned. "Why would anyone want to do that?"

Max looked at her sisters, trying to get them just to listen to her.

Liz put a hand on Maria's arm. "I'm sorry, Maria, but we have to go. If my sister says we can't stay here, then we can't."

Maria looked hurt. "Your choosing a sister you're not even related to, over me?"

Liz became frustrated. "No, it's not like that. You don't understand. It's dangerous for me to stay here, and if I do, I could endanger the rest of you."

Maxwell walked up to her. "Liz, what's wrong? I'm sure we could help you. You know, with our powers."

He said the last part under his breath so that Liz's sisters wouldn't hear, but they heard anyway because of their transgenic hearing.

"Powers?" Max asked, momentarily distracted from making their getaway.

Maxwell looked surprised that she had heard and opened his mouth to say something, but he heard someone come up behind him and something click. The next thing he knew, a gun was pointed at Liz's head and someone said, "Don't move."

* * *

A/N: Whew! Long chapter, although I'm not sure if it's any good. Please review! Review, review, review! (I'll update faster. LOL) I'm sorry there was no Buffy in this chapter, she's coming up in the next or so.

Thanks to –

Alana84 – Thanks for reviewing! I'm so sorry if it's not what you wanted, but Alec is going to be paired off with Faith. She won't be a bitch to him, believe me, but please, please, please, don't abandon this story because your preferred pairing isn't going to happen. I'm really sorry that it isn't, because I like to please my readers, but please don't abandon this story and keep reviewing and reading it. I'm going to write a different MA fic soon, maybe you'll want to read that, but I really do hope that you'll keep reading this fic. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

Angel Of Darkness231 – Thanks so much for reviewing this! I'm so glad you're enjoying this, it makes me happy when people like what I write. No, the 09'ers and Max don't believe they can kick anyone's ass with ten years training on them, (thought they probably could if they tried) but they just think they can kick ass in general. They don't think they're better than people with full training, but believe me, if Max is angry she could probably kick anyone's ass. LOL On another matter, I seriously think that you can read minds or are able to predict things, because you were right on the money, so to speak. I was going to make Faith break the news to Buffy during a fight from the start, so you probably can read my mind. LOL Transgenic and a slayer? Too cool! If you can, can you give me an idea on some powers slayers have? Put them in your review. I don't watch BTVS too much and I don't know the show too well, I just put it in this fic cause I have this really great idea for later on. So if you can help me out, thanks a lot! If you can't, no biggie, but thanks anyways.


	4. Kicking Familiar Ass

Disclaimer: I only own my own characters.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Much appreciated and could you please continue doing so.

* * *

Recap:

"Powers?" Max asked, momentarily distracted from making their getaway.

Maxwell looked surprised that she had heard and opened his mouth to say something, but he heard someone come up behind him and something click. The next thing he knew, a gun was pointed at Liz's head and someone said, "Don't move."

Liz froze, not moving an inch. Max looked terrified for her sister and Maxwell's eyes grew wide. He wanted to use his powers to blast the man holding a gun to his girlfriend's head back, but he couldn't because the gun could go off.

"Well, well, well," White said. "Looks like my lucky day. 452, 494, and 603 all at the same time."

'He doesn't realize Aqua, Ruby and I are transgenics,' Emerald thought.

'Who is he referring to?' Maxwell asked himself. 'He's just saying a bunch of random numbers.'

White looked at Max. "Well 452, I'm so glad you're here. You're going to be able to watch me blow your sister's brains out."

Liz shut her eyes and breathed in and out slowly. She weighed her options. Overpower the asshole who was holding a gun to her head and fight him which would blow her cover and reveal her as a transgenic to her friends? Or let him blast her to smithereens and not getting her cover blown even thought it wouldn't matter because she would be dead. It wasn't a tough decision, really.

She sucked in a breath then whirled around, snatching the gun from White's hand and pointing it at him. White put his hands up and Liz smirked, happy with the feeling that she was in control. She relished being able to be herself again, and kick ass. Her mind switched to combat mode and she evaluated him.

'Damn,' she thought. 'He's not favoring any sides, and I can't see any apparent weaknesses.'

Isabel's breath caught at seeing her friend pointing a gun. It was just so unlike Liz that it scared her. The whole time she had known Liz, she always felt she was holding back something. It seemed like everything was planned out. She saw how Liz answered questions in class and purposely made mistakes so she wouldn't seem like she knew everything. In gym class, when they were working on gymnastics, Liz made several mistakes even though she had the body of a gymnast and the agility and grace of one. Isabel always wondered why Liz held back, but it seemed maybe now she would find out why.

White didn't move for a second, then he snatched out and hit the gun from Liz's hand. He threw a punch at her which she caught and then she sent one flying back at him. He grabbed her arm but she launched him over her head and sent him soaring through the air. White jumped back to his feet and took a fighting stance, which she did as well. They stood there, just eyeing each other, then they both lashed out at each other at the same time. They both got their own share of kicks and punches in, but it seemed like White was the one worse off. Even though Liz hadn't fought in a long time, almost ten years to be exact, all her movements were fluid as they came back to her.

"What's the matter?" Liz taunted. "You getting too old to fight?"

Maria, Kyle, Jesse, Michael, Isabel and Maxwell were all shocked at this new Liz. Liz had never made fun of anyone in the whole time they had known her. She was a shy, quiet and kind girl.

A muscle in White's jaw twitched at the last comment and he pulled another gun from his jacket and fired, but Liz just laughed and dodged it easily.

"That was pitiful," Liz said, her voice dripping with mock sadness.

White growled. He was starting to hate anyone in 452's family. They all seemed to have the same amount of sarcasm and wit.

Max grinned. 'You go girl.'

White threw himself at her again, but his anger made him sloppy. Liz sighed and stuck her foot out, tripping him. He got back to his feet in time for her foot to smash into his face and then she did 3 back flips in a row and landed once more in her fighting stance.

Max loved watching her sister kick White's ass, but they couldn't waste anymore time because she still needed to get to their other siblings.

"Hey White!" she called.

White turned to face Max and she did a roundhouse kick to his temple then followed it up with a another kick.

Below the belt.

Pain or no pain, White sunk to the ground, his face contorting in weird expressions. Max kneeled down in front of him and punched him square in the face, knocking him out. She stood up.

"Okay, party's over guys. We need to head out. White probably sent his weird cult loonies after the rest of our siblings and we need to get to them before they do. You girls with me?" she asked.

Liz's friends were still stunned by the performance Liz had put on.

"How. Where. What the hell?" Maxwell said. He couldn't seem to be able to get a full sentence out that made sense.

"How did you do that?" Maria asked for him.

Liz smiled weakly. "It's in the genes." She walked up to them. "Look guys, I'm really sorry that I have to go. Believe me, I don't want to. But you don't understand. My family's in trouble, and I need to help save them. I wish I could stay and explain things, but we just don't have the time. When things settle down, maybe I'll come back to straighten things out. But for now, all my staying here will do is endanger you even more than you already are."

She said the last part while looking at Maxwell, Michael and Michael. The thing is, they were honest to god aliens. The alien's hibernation pods were deactivated by the Pulse and they were freed as children in 2009. Her boyfriend, Maxwell, was actually the king of his planet! They already had people after them, and her staying there would make them even more endangered.

She walked up to her friends and hugged them each in turn. They were too stunned to react and Maria was crying. When she got to Maxwell, she kissed him long and hard. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Max's own eyes were starting to tear up as well, but she pushed them down. She wanted something like that. She wanted to have someone who loved her unconditionally and she wanted to be able to love them back. Sure, she had Logan, but recently, all he was doing was bug her about Eyes Only missions when she was tired and leading a nation. She was questioning how she felt about him. She loved him, that was for sure, but she didn't know what type of love she had for him. Was it friendly love? Or was it soul mate love? Maybe a year or two back she would have believed it was the latter, but now she wasn't so sure. Her thoughts drifted back to Zack. 'He loved me,' she thought. 'Well, he sure as hell doesn't anymore,' she thought bitterly. 'Not after what I'd done to him.'

Liz turned away from Maxwell, but in a last act of desperation, he grabbed her hand.

"We'll go with you then," he said. "Let us go with you and you can explain things then."

A small bit of hope of not having to leave her friends started within her, but she squashed it.

"It's dangerous where I'm going," she said.

"So? It's dangerous everywhere," Maxwell said. "Just let us come with you," he pleaded.

Liz looked at Max, silently asking her the question. After a moment of consideration, she nodded and a smile spread over Liz's face.

"Alright, you can come."

Maxwell looked at the others and they nodded too.

"You're not leaving us here and having all the fun for yourself," Michael said.

They laughed and ran towards the van. But before Maxwell could get in, Max took his arm.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked him.

He nodded and she motioned to Alec to get everyone settled in.

"Maxwell, right?" she asked uncertainly.

He nodded again and she smiled.

"Well, this is going to be confusing. I'm Max." She held out her hand and he shook it, still wondering why she wanted to talk to him.

She saw that although he was polite, he was wondering why she pulled him aside.

"I'll cut to the chase since we're pressed for time," Max said. "Where we're going, there's going to be a lot of, uh, different people. Some may look a little weird."

He frowned at this, not quite understanding what she meant.

She sighed. "Okay, what I'm going to tell you has to stay between us and Liz's friends. Other than that, no one can know what I'm about to tell you."

He nodded. "Okay."

"I also want you to tell me any secrets that you have, which could put us at risk," she continued.

Maxwell swallowed. That meant that he would have to tell her that they were aliens. Liz took it well and believed it, but would her sister? He nodded anyways.

"Alright." She took a deep breath. "Liz, Emerald, Aqua, Ruby and I are genetically engineered supersoldiers slash killing machines who escaped from a secret government facility called Manticore when we were about 9. We have been hunted but now that we have been exposed to the world, they no longer want to hunt us, they want to kill us. At the top of the list of people who are trying to kill transgenics, there is Ames White, the man you saw just now, who is an NSA agent slash Familiar, who are people who are also enhanced but can feel no pain. He hates transgenics, but he has a personal vendetta against me because I'm supposed to be The One who stops this thing called The Coming, which I have no idea as to what it is. The prophecy says that I'm supposed to save the world or something or other, and White and his freaky cult loonies don't want that. That and the fact that I always kick his ass. Anyways, so yeah. I'm the leader of a freak nation, there are some transgenics who look more like animals than humans, and the world is out to get us. Anything I left out?"

Maxwell was speechless and didn't say anything for a moment. "This Manticore place, what was it?"

"It was no picnic, believe me." Her face became dark at the thought of it. "You have to understand, we were raised to be soldiers to kill people, so they were harsh. It was no shitty boarding school, it was straight up torture. You can ask Liz about it, but be gentle. Manticore tortured us, _really_ tortured, not some slaps and stuff. Some of our brothers and sisters even died through it."

Maxwell looked traumatized. "They tortured little kids? Liz too?"

"Yup. We weren't little kids to them. We were filth, expendable and soldiers."

"What are transgenics exactly?" Maxwell asked.

"Well, we were created in test tubes," Max said. "Everything about us is enhanced. We were created to have great looks, be faster than speeding bullets, jump 20 feet into the air, be agile and swift for fighting, have an enhanced learning rate, hear, smell and see from a far distance and a lot of other things. We all have animal DNA mixed in with us, for example, I have cat and a dash of shark. The X series look like normal human beings, no tails or anything sticking out, but the others don't. They had too much animal DNA added to them and look part human, part animal."

"Okay," Maxwell said. "Since you were completely honest with me, I'll be honest with you. Michael, Isabel and I are all aliens from outer space."

Max just looked at him blankly.

Maxwell shrugged. "Hey, you're a supersoldier made from a test tube, why can't there be aliens?"

"At least we're sci-fi," she muttered. "Okay. What can you do?"

"Well, we can throw people around using our powers and stuff, we can heal really bad injuries, we can communicate with each other through our heads and some other stuff," Maxwell said.

Max nodded. "Okay, good to know. On another matter, I see you're my sister's boyfriend and you two seem very close. What do you feel for her?"

Maxwell was a little uncomfortable sharing stuff like this but he figured he shouldn't lie considering she was a programmed killing machine. "I love her, I really do."

Max smiled. "You better. 'Cause no offense or anything, but you hurt her, and you'll be _very_ sorry. I'm very protective of my family, but I'm nothing compared to my brothers. If you mess with any of us, my brothers tend to get angry. And if they do, well, it won't be pretty. Catch my drift?"

Maxwell nodded. She didn't want to threaten him but she was very protective of her group. As he was. He could understand her concern.

Max grinned. "I think we'll get along just fine. Before we go to Terminal City which is where all the transgenics are hiding out, we need to make a few stops. My family's in danger because that son of a bitch White found out where they're hiding and probably sent out some of his Familiar friends to get them and kill them. We need to save them."

Maxwell nodded once again. "We'll help you the best we can."

She smiled. "Thanks. Okay, get in the van and explain everything to your friends if you have time."

They got in and Alec looked at Max. "An X5 named Gina said she saw a bunch of black vans heading towards the place where Faith is."

"Let's go."

* * *

Dix's radio crackled and Alec's voice filled the room. "Dix, you there?"

He picked up his radio. "Yeah. What do you have?"

"We've got Liz, Emerald, Ruby and Aqua."

"Got it," Dix said. "Only 8 more to go."

* * *

"Something's in the air tonight," Faith muttered. She was leaning against the back porch, just enjoying the cool night air on her face. Then suddenly it changed and became a little more violent. Faith often knew when something was going to happen, being transgenic and a slayer made her prone to being on her guard. 'Vampires?' she pondered. 'Or something else? Something that has to do with me.'

She scouted her surroundings, almost expecting someone or something to pop out and try to kill her. There was no one there that she could see, but she still felt like someone was watching her. She pretended not to notice anything, hoping that whoever it was would come out of the shadows, but no such luck. They stayed well hidden.

Buffy, Xander, Spike and Willow had gone out to get something to eat. She hadn't wanted to go, but now she almost wished she had. Then again, Dawn was still in the house and if something was going to happen at least Faith would be there to protect her.

Suddenly she sensed someone coming towards her so she tensed and dropped into a fighting pose.

"Who's there?" she called.

Coco and Crystal emerged from the darkness and Faith relaxed.

"Don't scare me like that," Faith said, irritated at her younger sisters.

"We're sorry big sister, but we couldn't resist," Coco said chuckling.

"Yeah," Crystal said. Her face became serious. "You notice something off tonight? Your slayer powers telling you anything?"

Unbeknownst to Faith, Dawn had been watching her the whole time. She had seen how Faith had somehow knew someone was out there. Her eyes widened when she heard Coco call Faith 'big sister' and even more when Crystal mentioned Faith being a slayer. Faith had told them?

Faith shrugged. "Not only that. Guess our little sixth sense thing is too."

'Sixth sense?' Dawn thought. 'What does she mean?' She heard a door open quietly and Buffy and the others came to where Dawn was and eavesdropped with her without making a sound.

"Something big is going to go down," Crystal said. "I know it."

"Hey, you know what's cool?" Coco said excitedly. "I saw Maxie on TV!"

"What!" Faith exclaimed. "What do you mean?"

"Seems like she's the leader of a nation. A transgenic nation. The whole world wants her dead but little sister appears to stay strong," Coco said proudly.

"No kidding!" Faith said. "Hmm. Think we should stop by, help her out? I haven't seen her in about ten years."

"She's gorgeous," Crystal said. "Reminds me of Krit."

'Little sister? Maxie? Transgenic nation? World wants her dead? Krit? What the hell is going on? Why are Coco and Crystal here?' These thoughts were running through everybody's heads.

* * *

Alec entered Sunnydale and drove to the house where Gina said White's Familiar friends had stopped. They drove up quietly, and talked with the other Xs already there.

"There were about five Familiars," Gina told them. "Some girls were talking about how they saw Max on TV leading a nation. I guess one of them is Faith, but I don't know about the others."

Max snuck a peek and smiled. "Coco and Crystal. We're getting through the list fast."

Max decided that she and Liz would go in to fight the Familiars and the rest would be on backup.

* * *

"I can't believe Maxie's leading a na-" Faith stopped abruptly.

"Show yourself," she called.

All of a sudden five men rushed out at them.

Buffy and the others ran out to where Faith, Coco and Crystal were but stopped when two other girls ran in and all five started fighting the men easily.

"What the hell is going on?" Buffy said. "How is Faith fighting like that? And how can Coco and Crystal fight? Plus, who are those two random girls?"

Faith punched the first Familiar who ran at them and slugged him in the gut. She did a cartwheel then a roundhouse kick at him.

Coco did a triple backflip and karate chopped the Familiar who rushed at her. He had a choke hold on her, but she stopped struggling on purpose for a moment to pretend she had weakened. He stupidly loosened his grip so she elbowed him and used his hold on her to flip over him.

With cat-like grace, Crystal slinked up behind a third Familiar and blurred around him when he whipped around. He turned back to be met with a fist in his face.

Max and Liz rushed on scene to take care of the other two Familiars who were walking towards Faith and Crystal.

"Hey, losers, don't you think you should go back to the loony bin you came from?" Max yelled.

They turned and rushed at Liz and Max just as they hoped.

They threw punches back and forth, doing flips and maneuvers no ordinary person would be able to do, but the Familiars didn't seem to be tiring. It was then that Max recognized one of them as the one who fell off a 15 story building.

She sighed. "Don't you guys EVER die!"

He didn't respond and they went back to fighting.

Buffy and the others seemed frozen on the spot. They didn't know what to do.

One Familiar pulled a gun on Crystal but she was too quick for that. She kicked the gun from his hand and it went soaring in the air, landing easily in her hand. She fired off a few shots at him, hitting his kneecap and shattering it, another bullet lodging itself in his shoulder. When she found it was empty, she threw it against the porch and it smashed to pieces.

"Hey!" he yelled. "That costs a pretty penny!"

'He speaks!' she thought. "Yeah well, the penny was obviously not pretty enough 'cause that gun wasn't indestructible."

They kept fighting the Familiars, Coco finally knocking hers unconscious by slamming him against a tree.

"None of your maneuvers will surprise me!" Max's Familiar said.

"Funny," Max said. "That's sort of what that creepy little Familiar boy said last time." She lifted her shirt and flashed him.

Xander's and Spike's eyes widened at that.

The Familiar was stunned for a moment so she took advantage of it and kicked him in the head, knocking him out as well.

She grinned then adjusted her shirt. "Works like a charm every time."

Crystal and Liz finally knocked their Familiar out and Faith killed hers with his own gun.

They all stood up, not even sweating or breathing hard.

Buffy just looked at them. "Holy shit. That looked like a piece of cake for you guys!"

Faith grinned. "Was." She turned to her younger sisters. "Maxie." They hugged tightly then she hugged Liz. The same was repeated with Coco and Crystal.

Faith walked up to Buffy who just stared at her incredulously. "I'm sorry for not telling you but it would have put all of you in more danger than you already are in. You see, not only am I a slayer but I'm also a transgenic which means I'm genetically perfect, a killing machine, and everything about me is enhanced."

"Slayer?" Max asked.

"I kill vampires," Faith explained.

"Vampires?" Max looked like she was going to faint. "So we go from transgenics to aliens to slayers and vampires? My god, what is the world coming to?"

Faith frowned. "Aliens? What are you talking about?"

"Just come," Max said wearily.

Faith turned to Buffy and the others. "You wanna come? I'll explain everything."

Buffy looked at the others and nodded. "You better have one hell of an explanation," she said.

All of them walked to the two vans and Faith saw Alec leaning against one of them.

'Well, look what we got here,' Faith thought. She eyed him. 'Nice body, and he's sure hot.'

Alec saw Faith eyeing him. "See anything you like?" he asked, grinning.

"Yup. A lot," she responded, not shy or embarrassed in the slightest.

Alec chuckled. Most girls weren't as forward as this one, but it interested him.

"Ben?" Coco asked.

Faith stopped her inspection.

"No. I'm his twin. My name's Alec," he said.

'Alec, huh?' Faith thought. "Oh, okay." She continued looking him over.

Alec raised his eyebrows and Max shook her head in disgust. "Oh, please don't, not in front of me."

She split everyone up and then ushered everyone in the two vans where a lot of explaining was about to take place.

* * *

They all walked into Terminal City, everyone filled in on everything else. They were all a little threw off by what they heard, but everything was working out.

Max walked into HQ and said hi to Dix.

"We've got Faith, Coco and Crystal."

"Jondy and Zane are on their way here. Nothing happened. Tawny and some X5s were almost caught by White's Familiars but they got away. They're on their way now. No word from Syl or Krit or the X6s who went to get them."

Max furrowed her brow. "Dammit. Something could've happened to them."

"Or maybe the radio was just smashed and we couldn't call in," Krit said as he and Syl walked into HQ. Max ran to hug her siblings.

"God baby sister, we thought you were dead!" Krit said.

"I was but Zack saved me," she said. 'Zack. He needs to be here too. With his family. I'll go over there and bring him back. Maybe I can talk to him and convince him that Logan isn't a threat.'

"We know where Zack is Maxie and it's okay," Syl said. "We miss him but he did try to kill Logan. Although I do think you could've tried harder to make him understand."

"No, you're wrong Syl. I shouldn't have sent him away. I'm sorry guys, but I need to go. We need to bring him back to be with his family," Max said.

Krit smiled. "Great. But what about Logan?" He didn't like the guy very much but he didn't want to see him dead.

Max only had to think about it for a second. "I'll try to convince Zack that Logan isn't a threat. And if it doesn't work then… we'll figure something out."

She rushed out the door.

Syl and Krit looked at each other. When their baby sister set herself out to do something, she would do it at all costs. They were just worried for the people who would stand in her way.

* * *

A/N: Hey guys! I already have the next chapter written up so if you review then I'll post it right away.

Thanks to –

Taye – Thanks for your review! Yes, they all met up. Yay! Hope you'll like what I have planned for later on.

Angel Of Darkness231 – Thanks for reviewing! If you could, please tell me some things about slayer powers and if you know anything about them, the Roswell aliens' powers.

Doza – Thanks for reviewing!

Alexandra Bruderlin – Psst. I'll tell you a secret. I've never watched a minute of Roswell in my whole life, let alone an episode. As for Buffy, I've watched it a little but don't really know anything about it. LOL I just incorporated the other shows into this fic 'cause I have a wicked idea for later on. I've also read other fics where people make Liz Jondy. That bugs me too because I like it when they are their own person. For the updating fast part, how do I manage it? Simple, by not doing my homework. LOL

kiwifruit03 – Thanks for reviewing!

Almond8 – Thanks for your review! I'm a relatively new fan fiction writer so I didn't know about betas. Personally, I think my spelling is fine but you're right, I do have some grammatical issues. Thank you for pointing that out, I appreciate your constructive criticism.

shygirl1 – Thanks for reviewing!

Keep reviewing guys and I'll post the next chapter really quick! I already have it all typed up! (Looks around casually pretending that it's not blackmail.) LOL Thanks everyone!


	5. Bringing Him Home

Disclaimer: Don't own anything except my own characters

A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed! Please keep doing so!

* * *

Max blurred down the hall and started knocking on Logan's door repeatedly. She tapped her foot and on the 10th knock, he opened the door and raised his eyebrows at her. She didn't say anything, she just blurred in. He closed the door and looked at her.

"Hey Max. You need something?" he asked sarcastically.

"Yeah. Tell me where Zack is," she said impatiently. She wanted to go get him – now.

Logan froze. She wanted to get the man who had tried to kill him?

"Uh, Max. May I ask why?" he asked hesitantly.

"I'm bringing him home," she said.

"Yeah, Max, in case you've forgotten, he tried to kill me," Logan said.

She shrugged. "I'll make sure that he understands you're not a threat. Don't worry; I wouldn't bring him here if I thought he was going to kill you. Tell me where he is."

The way she said it meant that she wasn't asking Logan where Zack was, she was ordering him to tell her.

"Max, look. I know you want your brother back but – "

Max cut him off. "Logan, I know he tried to kill you. And I'm sorry. I really am. But he didn't mean to, he was just confused. Manticore did something to him, but I'll set him straight."

'Didn't mean to, yeah right,' Logan thought. 'That guy hates me because he wants to get it on with his youngest sister and he's jealous that I actually have a relationship with her and he doesn't, at least not in the way he wants.'

"Max, what about his little thing?" he tried.

She looked at him. "What little thing?"

"You know. The whole fact that he think you're in love with him."

She lowered her eyes to the ground. "You don't have to worry about that. It was probably just some random fluke thing and besides, even if he was mixed up before, he probably hates me now because of what I did so you don't have to worry."

'Is it just me or did she look disappointed at that fact? No, must've been some light trick. Max isn't sick or perverted enough to like her own brother. Besides, she has me, why would she want some loser like Zack? I'm smart, charming, a great cook, and Eyes Only. You can't compare.'

"Logan, just tell me where he is." She was starting to get pissed off, he could tell by her tone of voice.

"Max, seriously, what if you can't convince him that I'm not a threat? He'll kill me and you'll be too laden with grief to go after the next Ben."

Max froze.

'Oh shit, I shouldn't have said that,' Logan thought.

'Laden with grief?' she thought. 'The next Ben?'

When she looked at him again, her eyes were different. Then she spoke in a voice that scared him. It was low and dangerous, threatening for him to say more.

"Keep Ben out of this," she said, eyes flashing. "You didn't know him. Don't ever say something like that again. Plus, Zack is nothing like Ben. He's not crazy or insane. He just fights to protect his family. Now you're going to tell me where he is or I'll figure it out myself."

Logan gulped. 'If she doesn't convince him that I'm not a threat, it's going to be my funeral either way.'

"Alright." He wrote down an address and directions on a piece of paper and she took it and stalked out.

He breathed a sigh of relief. 'What the hell has gotten into her? I'm the love of her life and she doesn't even seem to care.'

* * *

As soon as Max got the address, she blurred to her room, put on her leather ensemble, got her bike and started to leave T.C. when Alec stopped her.

"Where ya going Maxie?" he asked her.

"To get Zack," she answered, still walking.

"Ooh," he said. "What about loverboy?"

"Stop calling him that, we're not like that," she said.

Alec rolled his eyes. "Great, now we're back to that stage."

"I'm just going to convince Zack that Logan's not a threat and bring him home," she said.

'Right,' Alec thought. 'As long as you have some kind of relationship with Logan, Zack's always going to think of him as a threat.'

"Alright, fine. Want me to come?" he asked her.

"Thanks but no thanks. This is something I've got to do on my own. Go flirt with Faith or something. You two seem to have major UST."

Alec grinned. "You know, that's a mighty fine idea." He turned and left.

"Men," she muttered.

* * *

A few hours later, Max saw the farm where Zack was staying and pulled into the driveway. Her bike was roaring loudly so two people came out to see what all the noise was about. Max quickly shut off the engine and walked toward the couple who had bewildered expressions on their face. After all, it wasn't everyday that a beautiful young woman roared up to their farm on a motorcycle.

"May I help you?" the woman asked.

"Yes, hi I'm –" Max started, but the man cut her off.

"You're the girl from the hospital," the man said.

Max nodded. "Yes, I am."

The man studied her. "Are you here to see Adam?" he asked.

She nodded again. "If it's alright with you."

The man looked at the woman and she stepped forward and held out her hand.

"I'm Mary and this is my husband Buddy," she said. "It's a good thing that you're here."

Max peered at her curiously. "Why is that?"

"Adam has been acting… strange lately. It seems like he has something on his mind. Buddy and I think he might remember everything but he's keeping quiet about it," Mary explained.

Max took this in and was silent for a moment. A part of her was excited that he might remember everything, but another part filled with sadness because it was most likely that he hated her.

"Where is he?" she asked.

"He should be in the barn," Buddy said.

Max nodded her thanks and set off towards the barn.

* * *

When Zack had heard a large engine revving up, he stepped out of the barn and looked to see who it was. He saw Max and muttered, "What is she doing here?"

Zack had remembered who he was a little while before, this time getting it right. He remembered that he was madly in love with Max but she didn't love him back and was with roller boy. He remembered hating Logan and going after him. He also remembered Max's horrified face when she electrocuted him. Zack's memory was basically complete, every detail once again in his mind. Once he fully remembered everything, he decided to stay on the farm for a little while and relax. After all, it was nice there.

When Buddy had brought Zack to the farm, Zack couldn't remember ever being there. Over a few weeks, he noticed some things about himself. He noticed that he was stronger than most people, and didn't get tired as easy. And at night, he would get unexplainable dreams and nightmares. Strange nightmares about kids with buzz cuts and torture. And dreams about a gorgeous girl with huge captivating brown eyes. After that, everything gradually came flowing back to him.

"Why did she come here?" he muttered again, and he hid behind the post of the barn and just watched her.

She was just as beautiful as he remembered, and she had cut her hair to how it was before. Up to her shoulders and curly. She was dressed in her usual attire, leather pants, gloves and jacket. He saw her talk to Buddy and Mary for a minute then start walking towards where he was. He darted back into the barn and started stacking hay again.

He felt her walk up but didn't turn.

"Hi there," Max said, shyly. "Do you mind if I talk to you for a second?"

He looked at her and had to resist smiling. He knew that he should be mad at her but it was Max. He could never be mad at her because with one look he fell in love with her all over again. Even though she did electrocute him and left him stranded in the middle of nowhere with people he didn't know. But then again, he had tried to kill her boyfriend. He felt anger rise in him at the thought of Logan but he pushed it down and nodded in answer to her question.

She sat down on a little bench in the barn and looked at him, her eyes asking him to sit down beside her.

"Adam," she started slowly, not sure where to begin. She also felt weird calling him that, someone who he wasn't. "Have you ever heard of a place called Manticore?"

Zack figured he would pretend to still not remember anything and see what she had to say.

"Can't say that I have," he said.

She looked down at her hands. "Right. Umm… well it was a place where they created soldiers. But the soldiers were children and they were enhanced. They hurt the children but some of them escaped back in '09. Have you ever found anything unusual about yourself?"

Zack shrugged. "I'm stronger than most people and I don't get tired easy. I also have a barcode on the back of my neck."

She looked up. "This barcode. Do you know what it means?"

He shrugged again. "Not really. Maybe it was some gang thing when I was a kid."

"It's not," she said. "These children from Manticore. They all had barcodes on the back of their necks."

"So are you telling me that I'm some creature made in a lab?" Zack asked.

"Not a creature. You were made in a lab, but so was I," Max said.

"How do you know me?" Zack asked.

"You were – you are my brother," Max said. "Not biologically, but we grew up together and thought of each other that way."

'Like hell I did,' Zack thought.

"Anyways, we tried to take down Manticore, we meaning you, our sister Syl, our brother Krit and me. I got shot in the heart and you, well you committed suicide so I could get the X5 heart I needed. I never really thanked you for that actually. Anyways, after I burned Manticore to the ground, I found you again and some things went down. The thing is, you sort of tried to kill a good friend of mine, and I had to stop you. But now, I think I almost regret it." She said the last part in a whisper, so low that even Zack's enhanced hearing almost didn't pick it up.

Zack's mind started acting up. 'Regret it?' he thought. 'You've got to be kidding me. I tried to kill miracle boy and she regrets sending me away? Yeah, right."

"Why do you regret it?" he asked. "I would've killed your friend."

"But I could've tried harder to make you understand. I could've tried at least. But I was so damn self-centered. Things got hard for me so I did what I always do. Run or push the problem away. I pushed you away, and I'm sorry, because even after all you gave up for me, I still betrayed you. My family. I tried to convince myself that I sent you away for your own well-being, but I knew it was a lie. I sent you away because of me. Because I couldn't handle it. You didn't deserve that. I pretended that it was better this way. You would get the normal life you'd always wanted. But I also knew that you wouldn't want a normal life if you didn't have your family in it."

She was silent for a moment so Zack figured it was his turn to speak.

"Why did you come here, though?" he asked. This was one thing he had to know. "It's obvious you didn't want me or you wouldn't have sent me away."

She looked up alarmed and grabbed his hand. "No! No, it's nothing like that! Do you honestly think that I wanted to send you away? It wasn't an easy choice; in fact, it was the toughest one I had ever had to make. And I realize now that it was wrong. I did want you in my life, no; I do want you in my life." She let go of his hand and hung her head. "I know saying sorry a million times won't change anything, and it shouldn't because I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I…"

Zack could see she was struggling with the words so he put an arm around her. "Take your time."

She looked up, eyes shining with unshed tears.

'Oh shit, I wasn't supposed to make her cry,' Zack thought.

"I'm here because I missed you," she said. "I missed you so much."

'I don't know what to say,' Max thought. 'There are so many things I want to tell him, but I can't find the right words.'

"I'm also here because you need to be with your family. I know I have no right taking you away from them in the first place, then ripping you away from the new home you've made here, but everyone misses you and wants you back. I want you back. I also need your help."

At the mention of help, he looked at her sharply. 'Is she okay? Is something wrong with her? What would she need my help with?

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just need you by my side," she said. "All my life, you've always been watching my back, helping me out, and I'm sorry that I repaid you by stabbing you in the back. But the thing with the Familiars, it's getting out of hand and I need all the help I can get. I've rounded up everyone in our family, which I know you probably think is unwise, but I had to. White had found their locations and had sent Familiars after them, so I had to get to them before they did."

"Wait a second," Zack said, holding up a hand. "Who is White and what is a Familiar?"

"White is an NSA agent who is also a Familiar. He was sent to wipe out all evidence that Manticore ever existed, but then he turned the tables and exposed us all. He has all of us trapped in Terminal City, and is trying to kill us. Familiars are people who are also genetically enhanced, but who don't feel pain. There's this thing called The Coming, which is supposedly supposed to wipe out every human being on earth except for transgenics and Familiars. There's a prophecy that someone is supposed to save everyone, and that person is me."

Zack was shocked. Max had to save the world? Familiars? The Coming? What the hell was going on? He hadn't really known what was going on on the transgenic front because Buddy and Mary had made sure he couldn't watch the news or anything that leaked information on what was happening in Seattle.

"That's why everyone's out to kill me," she continued. "Especially White. He has a personal vendetta against me because I took his son from him."

"So let me get this straight. You have the humans who want to kill you, the Familiars, and White?" Zack asked incredulously.

"My life sucks doesn't it?" she joked weakly. "Anyways, that's one of the reasons why I'm here. I really need your help. But I don't want you to think I'm here only for that. I didn't pop up suddenly because I needed your help and your help only. I missed you; please believe me when I say that. I'm not going to use you to help me fight the Familiars then throw you away. I-"

She was starting to get frustrated again. She kept stumbling over her words.

"I know you probably hate me for what I did," she continued bravely. "And I can live with that. Don't come back for me. Come back for the rest of your family who loves you. I made the mistake of sending you away, and you don't know how much I'm sorry for that, but if you can find it in your heart to forgive me, I hope we could be friends again."

She stood up, trying not to cry. It was hurting her that Zack may possibly hate her for the rest of her life. But like she said. She could deal with that as long as he came back.

"Well, you know the way to Seattle. If you want to come in the future, please do." She turned around to leave but he sighed and grabbed her arm.

"Maxie, sit down," he said. She froze. She hadn't told him her name. She turned around and looked at him, accusation in her eyes.

"You remembered. You remembered everything all along but you still pretended to not know," she said hotly.

"I'm sorry Maxie. I wanted to know why you were here," he said.

"So you kept pretending to make me feel even guiltier than I already was? You asshole!"

She started hitting him in anger but he grabbed her arms and soon her cries of anger turned into tears. She collapsed into his arms and let him hold her while she cried.

"I'm sorry," she kept sobbing. "God Zack, I'm so sorry."

He shushed her and rubbed her back, stroked her hair, did anything he thought might make her stop crying. He muttered comforting words to her but she didn't seem to hear.

"Please don't hate me, please," she said in between her tears. "I'm sorry, please forgive me. Zack, I'm so sorry."

He rocked her back in forth in his arms until she quieted down. "It's okay, Maxie," he murmured. "I don't hate you. I could never hate you. Don't ever think that."

She sniffed and rubbed her nose. "Why are you being so forgiving?" she asked.

"Because I love you Maxie," he said. 'In more ways than one.'

She looked at him, not sure about what type of love he was talking about, but at the moment, she didn't particularly care. He didn't hate her, and that was what mattered.

"I'm sorry that I went after Logan," he said. "I know I was wrong and that Manticore did something to me. I won't do it again."

'That won't stop me from hating the asshole. Stupid miracle boy,' he thought.

"Let's go home, Maxie," he said.

"What about Mary and Buddy?" she asked.

"We understand," Mary said. It seemed that she and Buddy had come up to the barn while they were talking.

Zack stood up and to Max's surprise hugged Mary and shook hands with Buddy. He pulled Max up from the bench and they walked outside, Max still looking at him oddly.

"What?" he asked. "I guess I owe you one after all. Being here loosened me up a little. I can joke now too."

Max laughed and Zack grinned. He loved to hear her laugh and he suspected it had been a long time since she had last done it because it was a little throaty.

Max said goodbye to Buddy and Mary and headed to her bike. Zack moved to follow her but Buddy's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Take care of her. She's a strong girl to go through all that she has lately," Buddy said.

Zack frowned. "What do you mean? What did she go through?"

"Well, the pressure of the world and all. We also saw on the news that a transgenic was gravely hurt a few weeks back when they tried to do some rescue attempt. It seemed that one of her friends was in danger and she got hurt," Buddy explained.

"I'll take care of her," he promised.

Then he got on the bike behind Max and they headed home.

* * *

A/N: Please review everyone! Thanks!

Thanks to –

ivy – Thanks for reviewing!

Angel Of Darkness231 – Thanks for reviewing! Thank you so much for the information on BTVS and Roswell. It helped me understand things a great deal and it gave me ideas for later on in the story. For the whole bullet thing, let's just say that Maxwell was panicking and not thinking straight so he forgot that he could ignite stuff. LOL Thanks for everything!

ZombieGurl98 – Thanks for reviewing! Yes, I will add more Tawny. I'll add more everybody, don't worry. :)

shygirl1 – Thanks for reviewing!

Mae – Thanks for reviewing! Doing two stories at once isn't easy, believe me. Plus, I have another one that I have to finish too.

Doza – Thanks for reviewing! Sorry, I don't know much about BTVS so I didn't put much in it. But I promise you I will put more in the future, because a friend gave me some info on it. All the fight scenes focused more on the transgenics, but don't worry. There will be more fights to come where people fly around and stuff. Spike will have a face off with one of the Familiars, and Buffy and the gang, and the Roswell aliens will kick ass too. Anyways, thanks so much for reviewing and stay tuned for more ass-kicking! LOL

Thanks everyone and keep reviewing!


	6. Conversations All Around

Disclaimer: Grow a brain

A/N: Sorry I didn't update lately, I was too busy going out with Zack. Haha. I wish.

* * *

Max and Zack entered T.C. and headed directly to HQ to make sure that everyone else had arrived safely. As soon as Zack walked in he was engulfed in hugs by several of his brothers and sisters. Zack was never good with displays of emotion, especially with hugs, giving or receiving, unless the person in question was Max. He looked helplessly at her, silently asking her to get their family off him, but she just smirked and shook her head then walked over to Dix.

"Getting a little crowded here, huh?" she asked him.

He smiled kindly at her, and said, "I don't mind. Back at Manticore, I was locked in the basement so I didn't get to interact with people much. It's nice to be around people."

"I'm sorry," she said. "I know when we were younger we used to think you guys in the basement were monsters, but that was because of all the lies the guards and trainers told us. Anyways, I'm glad I got to know you guys 'cause you're really exactly like us. Just a bunch of hybrids trying to make a life in a shitty little world."

Dix nodded. "Thanks for your support. I'm really glad you're our leader, Max. You're kind and fair, but you don't take stuff from anyone."

Max chuckled inwardly. Dix was such a kind and gentle anomaly, so innocent he couldn't even say the words "shit" or "crap". That's what she liked about him. He was like a child seeing the world for the first time, and he didn't mouth off because his mom would smack him.

Max turned her head to see that Zack had successfully freed himself from his brothers' and sisters' arms, looking kind of worn out. She laughed and said, "You alright Zack?"

"Yeah. Who runs this place anyways?" he asked.

All eyes on the room looked at Max and he followed their gazes all the way to her face. His mouth opened slightly with shock.

"You're in charge here?" he asked.

She blushed slightly. "Yeah. Seems like I can boss you around now, huh? I have a higher ranking."

He chortled then said, "I think I'll find a room to stay in."

"Okay," Max said and he walked off.

* * *

Zack wandered T.C., imprinting every little detail in his mind. It wasn't exactly the nicest place ever, but it was somewhere the transgenics could stay without fearing for their lives every second of the day.

He kept walking down the hall, opening some doors to see what was inside and taking in everything: the kitchen and mess hall, rec room, med bay… everything until he heard a familiar voice.

"So do you think that there's a chance for curing the virus?" the voice asked. It seemed they were talking on the phone.

Zack recognized it as Logan's voice and crept closer to the room he was in. During the ride back to T.C., Max had filled him in on practically everything so he knew about the virus between her and Logan.

'Good,' he had thought. 'That'll keep that nerd's hands off of her.'

He strained to hear the answer of the person Logan was talking to.

"Well, I make it a point to never say never," the voice said. "I think it's curable, but I'm not the one who could do it. I analyzed it; it's the most complex thing I've ever seen. This Manticore place; they really knew their stuff. I'm sure if you find a doctor from there, they could probably cure it. But I'm sorry Logan; I'm just not the person who can."

"Alright, thanks," Logan said, his voice obviously disappointed. He hung up the phone and just stood there for a moment, and then he walked out.

Zack backed away from the door when it opened and Logan came out, looking very weary. Logan started down the hall and Zack followed him, walking so lightly his feet didn't make any noise. It seemed that Logan sensed someone was behind him because he quickly whirled around but no one was there. Zack had blurred away a second before then blurred back behind him when Logan kept walking.

Zack grinned. This was fun.

The hairs on the back of Logan's neck stood up and he turned around again.

"Who's there?" he shouted.

A transgenic passing by looked at him weirdly, as if to say, "Why is there a lunatic screaming in the hall?"

Zack tried hard to stifle a laugh as he continued his game of cat and mouse with Logan. But this time when Logan turned back around to continue walking, Zack blurred in front of him and blocked his path, arms folded over his chest and a predatory grin on his face.

Logan froze. 'My God, Max actually brought Zack back. Is she crazy? Now he's going to kill me! Who's going to continue Eyes Only? The world needs him. He makes their lives better and more enjoyable!' He tried hard not to flinch upon seeing Zack and instead forced his mouth to open.

"Hi Zack."

'Okay, short but at least I said something.' Logan looked around to see if there was anyone there who would witness his death or if there were any tools to defend himself with against Zack, but he saw that there were none. His mind forced his body and legs to move, but it was as if he was paralyzed again. They wouldn't listen to him.

Zack didn't stop grinning. "Hello Logan. Long time no see."

Logan gulped. "Uh, yeah."

"How've you been?" Zack asked.

Logan stared at him incredulously. Was this Zack's version of chit chat before he killed him?

"O-okay," Logan said, trying hard not to stutter but not succeeding. "And you?"

"Good, good." Zack's grin wasn't coming off his face and it was unnerving Logan.

"That's um –" Logan stopped. He would not die this way. Not playing Zack's game. He would die his head held high, a true hero.

(aod78: coughtrueheromyasscoughcough. Clears throat. Ok, on with story.)

"You know Zack; I'm not going to play your stupid games. If you're going to kill me, then do it," Logan said bravely. He clenched his eyes shut and Zack rolled his.

Zack walked toward Logan and lifted his hand as if to strike him, but instead ruffled his hair. Logan's eyes opened with shock to see Zack still grinning madly at him.

Zack laughed and walked away, throwing an "I'm not going to kill you, you idiot. Drop your dumb heroism act," over his shoulder.

Logan wiped at his forehead where sweat had accumulated. "Phew. Close one."

* * *

Buffy sat in a nice little clearing outside T.C., thinking about all that had happened recently.

'I can't believe Faith lied to me,' she thought. 'I know she had a good reason; she didn't want to put me in more danger than usual, but still. She should've told me. I'm her best friend and she didn't tell me.'

She felt someone walk up behind her and knew it was Spike.

He sat down and put an arm around her shoulder.

"What's wrong luv? Looks like something's gotcha down," he said.

She leaned into his embraced and sighed. "Faith. It's like I don't even know her anymore. She kept so much from me."

"With good reason luv," Spike said. "I know it hurts but ya gotta let it go. She did it because she cares about you. 'Bout all of us really. She didn't want to see us in more trouble with these Familiar whatchamacollits."

"I know it was for good reasons but it still doesn't take away all the hurt," Buffy said. She snickered at herself. "Look at me. I'm supposed to be a tough slayer, but because my best friend didn't tell me a secret I break down. Isn't that stupid? I wonder what all those vampires would think about me now."

"I'm a vampire and I think you're a wonderful human who can't help expressing your emotions. It's only natural, luv, don't let it bum you out. You've been Faith's friend for a long time now and of course it hurts that she didn't tell you something. But you gotta get over it so you can help Faith beat this battle with those creepy 'no pain no gain' guys. She needs you Buff," Spike said.

She smiled at him. "Thanks, that makes me feel better although your opinion shouldn't count."

"And why the bloody hell not?" he demanded, affronted.

She laughed. "Because you're in love with me."

He relaxed. "Damn right there."

"So I should go to Faith and talk things out with her?" Buffy asked.

"Yup. Then you should go to my room and talk things out with me," Spike said.

She frowned, confused. "Talk what out with you?"

He raised his eyebrows suggestively. "You know luv… things."

She grinned. "I just might do that."

* * *

Liz sat in her room in T.C., deep in thought when she finally noticed that someone was knocking at the door. She sat up slowly then walked over to the door and unlocked it. Maxwell stood in front of her.

"I was wondering if we could talk," he said.

Liz nodded and pulled him into the room. But before he could speak, she pulled him towards her and kissed him. His arms quickly wrapped around her, and after a minute or so they pulled apart. Max grinned at her.

"Well, I said talk but this I could do with too," he said.

She pulled him onto her bed and they just sat there looking at each other.

Liz was the one who broke the silence.

"You want to know why I didn't tell you earlier about what I am," she stated.

He nodded. "Yes, I do. I know you didn't want to put us more at risk, but you should've trusted me Liz, at least me. I told you what I was."

"Yeah, but that was different. You unexplainably healed me when I was dying. You had the whole glowy hand thing; you couldn't exactly say you had phosphorescent glue on your hand or something. You had to tell me, you didn't really have a choice because I witnessed it," Liz said.

"Still, don't you think I worried about you? Don't you think I was afraid to tell you? And even when I did save you, the explanation I gave wasn't everything. I told you everything later, even though I didn't want to put an innocent, human – or so I thought at the time – girl at risk with all the people out to get us. I trusted you Liz, I thought you trusted me too," he said with a hurt look on his face.

"I do trust you. With my life, Max," she said. "But I just didn't – I don't even know why I didn't tell you. Maybe I was afraid of something; maybe I got so used to being Liz, the ordinary girl that I forgot about who I was. Maybe I couldn't find a way to tell you. There are so many maybes, Max. I don't know why I did what I did, and I'm sorry."

She looked down because she didn't want to meet his eyes. "Things were just so complicated. I was alone without my family, and you and Michael and Isabel and all the others… you guys were the best thing that happened to me while I was on the run and you guys became my family. Maybe I was afraid that you guys might think it would be too risky to stay with someone who was being hunted just as much as yourselves, and leave me alone again. I didn't want to lose everyone."

Max sighed and put a hand under her chin, lifting it up so she couldn't hide from him. "Alright Liz, I understand. I'm not mad at you; I just wanted to know why."

"So we good?" she asked.

He grinned. "Better than good although I have a girlfriend who can kick ass better than me."

She laughed and cuddled up to him. She had been the happiest lately. She had gotten her family back, told Maxwell and the others the truth about what she was, and so far everything was peaceful. She just hoped it wouldn't all come crashing down on her.

* * *

"Sir?" Otto asked White. "There are a few people here to see you," he said.

White looked up. "Send them in."

Three men and a woman walked in. Two of the men looked a little strange though. Their teeth stuck out and looked very pointy and sharp. The funny thing was that White couldn't hear their hearts beating.

He looked at them strangely. "Please take a seat," he said.

They pulled out the chairs and sat down.

"May I ask who you are and what you're doing here?" White asked.

"My name is Hilda. Jaquen and I come from outer space," she said. She pointed to the man on her right.

"And I'm Vlad," one of the guys who had pointy teeth and no heartbeat said. "Boont and I are vampires," he said.

White laughed. "Ha! Yeah right. You know what? Keep smoking whatever crack you're on. Maybe you'll come up with even crazier ideas. Get out of my office, you loonies."

Vlad smiled cruelly. "No joke. You are a Familiar, are you not? Our leader told us about you. How you have enhanced reflexes and such. You can hear that my heart isn't beating."

White observed them more closely. No, it couldn't be true. The world was sick enough already with all its fairy tale come true stuff. Transgenics and Familiars were enough, now there were aliens and vampires too? Impossible.

"We're not lying, Mr. White," Hilda said. She flicked her wrist and a book on his desk levitated. White watched in fascination as she made it fly around the room.

"And we truly are vampires," Boont said. He bared his teeth that were very red with blood.

"So what are you here for?" White asked. Despite his calm around enemies, not fearing anything nature, these people made him a tad uneasy considering some of them could make things fly around.

"We have a proposition," Jaquen said. "We aliens and vampires have already created an alliance. We're going to wage battles against the kind we want to get rid of; some aliens and slayers. We were wondering if the Familiars would like to join our alliance. We would help with your transgenic situation if you help with our problems."

"I can't make this decision on my own; I have to consult with the Conclave. But I'll get back to you if you give me some more information on this proposition," White said.

"Certainly," replied Vlad.

"So what is it you call yourselves?" White asked.

Boont grinned maliciously. "The Purest."

* * *

A/N: I hope you liked this chapter. Please, please, please review! I'm begging you! LOL Hoped you liked this.

Thanks to –

Taye – Thanks for reviewing! Ya, I was planning on making it M/Z and F/A (Faith/Alec) There will be other ships too like J/Zane and S/K and stuff. I hope you don't stop reading because of the ships. Please continue reading and reviewing! Thanks :)

ZombieGurl98 – Thanks for reviewing!

Mae – Thanks for reviewing!

shygirl1 – Thanks for reviewing! Zack's back. Yes! (Pumps fist into the air) LOL

Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Please keep reading and reviewing! For those who are interested, please check out my other fic, "Whose Love".


	7. Preparations For Relaxation

Disclaimer: Only my own characters belong to me

A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update. I had so much work and then when I was finally ready to post my stuff, it didn't work. It seriously sucked because I wanted to get my stuff posted and updated but I couldn't because the stupid document manager wasn't working. Oh well.

* * *

Max sat at her desk in her office in Terminal City going over the supplies they needed now that there were more people when there was a knock at her door. Without looking up from her list, she said, "Come in."

Jondy and Emerald walked in and sat down on the leather couch Max had in her office.

"Hey baby sister. What's up?" Jondy asked.

"Going over the supplies we need," Max said. She sighed. "Just another day in my shitty, hunted life."

"Aw baby sister, cheer up. At least you got us now to share the unfairness of your shitty, hunted life," Emerald said.

Max rolled her eyes and finished up the last of the list. She stood up and went over to sit with her sisters.

"So what are you guys here for?" Max asked.

"Well, we were wondering," Emerald said, "If we could have a party. We're all together for once and we even have all our friends here. It would be great if we had one because it would really loosen up the tense atmosphere. You know, with White on our asses and all."

"It's almost Christmas," Jondy said. "We could make it a Christmas party. Almost none of the transgenics here have celebrated Christmas before, so this will be their first. Might as well make it memorable. What do you think? We can steal decorations and stuff. I mean, who cares if the ordinaries blame it on us? They blame us for anything and everything, like if somebody spills their coffee it's somehow our fault, so at least this time they can rightfully blame us."

Max thought for a moment. The idea appealed to her. 'If we're going to be barricaded in a toxic waste dump, might as well have some fun in it. We can't battle Familiars day in and day out without some stress reliever. This'll keep our minds relaxed and off the fact that we're currently in the middle of a war.'

"Alright," she declared. "I think it's a great idea. The thing is though; Christmas is about a week away. We better get cracking."

Emerald and Jondy both sported identical grins.

"This is gonna be fun," Jondy said.

"Let's call a meeting," Max suggested. "This way we can divide ourselves up and get the separate things we'll need."

Emerald nodded and said, "Jondy and I will go tell everyone about it. How 'bout in say… 15 minutes?"

"Sounds good," Max said.

They looked at each other, eyes shining with excitement then Jondy and Emerald left to tell everyone about the meeting.

Max sat back down at her desk to put away her papers and then she turned around and turned on the radio sitting on the shelf behind her.

"_There's about a week left until Christmas," _the man on the radio said. "_So everybody better get a move on and buy their presents. There are currently Christmas sales in almost every store in Seattle, and do you know what that means? Go shop!"_ The man laughed._ "And next up we'll have a few Christmas songs."_ Music starts playing._ "Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!"_

Max smiled and started humming and singing to the music as she went about her office, cleaning up.

"And have yourself, a merry little Christmas now," she sang.

Unbeknownst to her, Zack was watching her from the door to her office with a soft smile on his face. He watched her for a little longer, and then left, his presence never known.

* * *

Willow, Xander and Dawn were walking through a nice little garden at the back of T.C. when they saw a blurring form and heard a voice that seemed like it belonged to the wind because they couldn't actually see the full form of someone.

"Meeting in the south building in 15 minutes. This goes for everyone. We need to discuss a partay!" the voice yelled as the person made their way across the garden.

Xander laughed. "Well, that's an efficient way to tell people about something going down in 15 minutes. Just blur around and hope you don't freak people out because no one can see an actual person."

"They're lucky," Dawn said. "I bet they could blur around for hours and not come even close to tired."

"Who was that?" Willow asked. She thought back to when Max made all the introductions. She frowned with concentration. "Emma, Emily, Emilia?"

"Emerald," Dawn corrected. "Her name's Emerald."

"Right. Emerald," Willow said.

"I remember her," Xander said. "Really pretty."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Well no duh. They're genetically perfect, so that means that they have great looks. Where have you been?"

"On earth," Xander said. "I was just saying that she's really, really pretty."

Dawn and Willow looked at each other then grinned.

"Looks like someone's got a wittle bit of a cwush," Dawn said.

"No I don't!" Xander protested.

"Oh, give it up Xand, it's so obvious," Willow said. "I was just saying that she's really, really pretty," she mimicked.

Xander looked at the both of them then looked at the watch he didn't have on his wrist. "Um, we should get going."

Dawn rolled her eyes and smacked him. "You don't have a watch dumb ass. What are you going to say? It's freckle past hair?"

"You should have more respect for your elders, Dawn. What would Buffy do if she heard that?" Xander asked.

"Congratulate me on recognizing what a bad liar you are," Dawn said, and then she and Willow walked toward the south building.

Xander stood there for a second. "Am I really that bad of a liar?" he asked himself, then shook his head and followed them.

* * *

Alec and Faith sat in the lounge drinking coke, just talking about each other's likes and dislikes, what they did when they finally got out into the world. Faith had told him all about this teacher she had had when she went to school in Philadelphia who had this habit of scrunching up his nose when something was wrong and reminded her of a rabbit and Trainer Hossle. Trainer Hossle was in charge of the tank back at Manticore. He'd twitch and scrunch his nose up when he was about to yell at someone.

Alec was just telling Faith about all the times he had messed up some of Max's cons, like the time with the baseball – which so femininely made her spray out the coke when she laughed too hard – when they saw a blurring form. Because of their trained eyes, they made out the figure to be Jondy.

"Be in the south building in 15 minutes. We're having a meeting to discuss a party," Jondy shouted over her shoulder as she blurred into the lounge then back out the door again.

"You shouldn't blur so fast, little sister," Faith called out. "You might bump into some – "

A loud crash was heard then two groans were too.

"Dee, watch where you're going!" they heard a male voice say. Faith recognized it to be Zane's.

"Sorry. Meeting in 15, south building. Discussing a Christmas party," Jondy said hurriedly, then went back to her task of blurring around, only slightly slower this time.

Faith and Alec walked into the hall to see Zane sprawled out on the floor. Faith looked amused then helped her older brother up. He dusted off his clothes then sighed.

"I love Dee, I really do, but that's the third time she's crashed into me in the past two days," Zane said.

Alec laughed. "Come on, we better get going. You know the queen hates to be kept waiting."

* * *

15 minutes later, all the transgenics were assembled in the south building. Max walked up to the podium at the front and stood on a little block of wood so she could be seen.

"Hey everyone," she started. Everyone grunted or nodded their head in acknowledgment. "As you all know, Christmas is coming up in a week, and for many of you, this will be your first. At least as a free man or woman. I think everyone agrees that having a party would be a nice stress reliever, and I think that everyone deserves a break. The situation with White has really been putting a lot of pressure on us, and this will be a time to relax. I'm not saying to have your guard completely down, because there is a possibility that White could attack us during Christmas. It would be typical of him to try to screw up a supposedly special day. Anyways, if we are going to go through with this, we'll need to divide into groups to get the things we need. First of all, who agrees with the idea of having a party?" she asked.

Every single one of the transgenics lifted their hand in the air.

Max smiled. "I thought so. Now, not all of you will have to do something for the party. There are other things to do as well, like get more supplies for T.C. Anyway, a group of you will get decorations, another group a Christmas tree, another group a bunch of food, one group will get drinks, one group will get music, and so on. A list of who's getting what will be posted later on. I want you all to have a great time. So let's make this Christmas a memorable one people. Have a great holiday!"

Everyone cheered and they started filing out of the room, talking about all the things they could do for the party.

Liz walked up to Max.

"Hey little sister," Liz said. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Max grinned. "Let's get this party started."

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. My computer was screwed. Anyways, please review everyone. I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't as good as usual or as long, but I'll try to make the next one better. Review please.

Thanks to –

Doza – Thanks for reviewing! The whole alliance thing, yeah, I know it's crazy, but it'll be good, promise. The groups won't be so accepting of the others; just the leaders are because I never said the people in the group are. It'll be funny; there will be a lot of fights, like aliens throwing Familiars around. But shh, I don't want to give away too much. LOL

Mae – Thanks for reviewing! Zack has the best sense of humor and yes. Logan is a prick. LOL I agree with you 100

Angel Of Darkness231 – Thanks for reviewing! I know what you mean by old computers. My computer isn't old but it's soooo slow. And starting next chapter, all the hotties will be taking turns visiting Logan. Won't that be great? LOL

Taye – Thanks for reviewing! Yes, they will all talk eventually. It's just so hard, because there are sooo many characters with all three crews together.

ivy – Thanks for reviewing! LOL Ames in a position of inferiority, he must be very hung-up. LOL I loved that, you're so right.

Lin – Thanks for reviewing! It's great to have a new reviewer. So glad you love this.

Thanks to everyone for reviewing. Please keep doing so. If you guys want, plz check out my other fic, "Whose Love?" Thanks everyone!


	8. Partay!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my own characters. Although if I had my way, Zack and Alec would be mine. Muahahahah LOL

A/N: Plz keep reviewing everyone! It's greatly appreciated.

* * *

A week later, it was Christmas, and everything was set. The lights, streamers and decorations were put up, the food and drinks were all laid out on the table and there was a giant Christmas tree in the middle of T.C.. Alec, Michael, Jordan, Bobby and Evan had shown up with it the day before, grinning deviously and refusing to tell her where they'd gotten it. Just this morning Max had heard a rumor about the giant Christmas tree in the downtown center. It was said that it had mysteriously disappeared, with no traces on what had happened to it. Max thought about scolding them but then she laughed and figured that since it was Christmas she wouldn't say anything. Besides, they all deserved a little something from the ordinaries considering all the trouble they had put the transgenics through.

Max stood in front of her mirror, inspecting herself. They had all decided that the party would be formal, just so that they could have fun dressing up. Max quickly agreed to that idea because she couldn't wait until she could see Mole in a tux. Now that would be a memory that would stay with her forever. Many of the transgenics had dates to go with, but Max didn't because Logan had said he couldn't come due to some Eyes Only business. They were still a little awkward with each other because of the whole Zack incident so she didn't mind going alone.

Max straightened out her dress. It was blood red silk with almost non-existent straps, hugging all her curves in the right places. It cut in a diagonal at the bottom, little ruffles trimming the edge. She wore matching red heels to make her seem taller and twisted her hair into an exotic bun with some loose tendrils on the side. She polished off her look with a red lip gloss, making her bee-stung lips look fuller than usual, and then she lightly put on some blush, black eyeliner and eye shadow. She wasn't much of a girly-girl, but for some reason, she dressed to impress. Of course, she always loved to impress, but there was some invisible force telling her that she had to look exceptional tonight.

There was a knock at the door and her sisters and Cindy walked in. They all crowded around her, dressed just as beautifully. Cindy whistled loudly.

"Damn boo. Sugah, you lookin' hot aiight!" she said.

"Yeah, really Maxie. You look gorgeous," Emerald said. She was wearing an emerald green dress to live up to her name and eyes, setting off her bare shoulders with green glitter.

Max blushed, unusual for her.

"Any particular reason why you did yourself up extra tonight?" Jondy teased. She also wore a red dress; however it was more orange and off-the-shoulder.

"No!" Max said hotly, although the flush creeping up the side of her neck betrayed the truth.

"I think there is," Syl said, snickering. She wore a sky blue halter top dress, and extra high heels to give her more height.

"Don't think too much, you might strain something," Max shot at her.

"Tsk, tsk, Maxie. That wasn't nice. Just because you don't want to tell us the truth doesn't mean you have to get catty," Faith said. She smirked at her reference to their feline DNA. She wore a violet spaghetti strap dress, purple glitter encircling her eyes.

"What truth?" Max said. "I just felt like dressing up tonight. Is that a crime? Sheesh."

"Poor little sister, so naïve," Ruby said to Aqua. Ruby and Aqua wore similar dresses, except one scarlet red and the other aquamarine blue.

"Ya. It's so sad," Aqua said back.

Coco, a sister known to get straight to the point, walked up to Max and got in her face. She wore a light brown dress that fell to the floor. "Does this have anything to do with Zack?" she inquired.

Max fought to keep the red off her face. "No," she said, teeth gritting.

Her sisters looked at one another and said at the same time, "I knew it."

"You _like_ him, don't you?" Crystal said. She wore a silver mini dress with a matching shawl around her shoulders.

"What are you talking about?" Max asked. "He's my _brother_."

Liz rolled her eyes. "No he's not. Not biologically. I mean come on; he's just a random guy you happened to grow up with for Christ's sakes. Zane being Jondy's brother doesn't stop them from getting it on, ditto with Syl and Krit."

Max wrinkled her nose up. "Okay, I so do not want to know about my brothers' and sisters' sex lives."

Faith opened her mouth to continue the lecture on how Zack wasn't really Max's brother when Syl interrupted her.

"We better get going. We're already late to meet the guys and there's only so far the term 'fashionably late' can go."

The other girls nodded.

"Let's knock 'em dead," Cindy said.

"Only not literally," Coco said, all of them bursting out into laughter.

* * *

"What's taking them so long?" Krit asked.

"They're chicks. They have to look perfect and all that crap. You know, girl stuff," Zane said.

"The girls are the most un-girly girls on the pla –" Alec started, but stopped as soon as he saw them coming.

"Holy shit," he whispered hoarsely.

The girls walked towards them in all their glory. Walking together they looked like a bunch of goddesses, angels but with an air of danger around them.

"Honey," Jondy said as she walked up to Zane and kissed him.

"You look beautiful Jond," he said.

She smirked. "I know. And I expect a reward later on," she said suggestively.

Zane chuckled. "You bet."

"Oh, please stop before I puke all over," Max said.

"Get vomit on this dress and don't get me wrong little sister, I love you but I'll kill you," Crystal threatened.

Jondy, Syl and Faith left with their dates, and the rest of them stood outside the door to the party room, about to go in.

"Here we go," Liz said.

For some reason, Max took a deep breath before she walked in.

* * *

As soon as he felt her presence, he looked up and saw her glide in as if she walked on air. He had to work extremely hard to not drop the glass of wine he was holding.

'She's – There aren't any words to give her justice,' Zack thought.

When he saw his sisters part with their dates, leaving Max alone, he made his way towards her.

'Computer boy isn't here. The ball's finally in my court. Time to make my move,' Zack thought.

* * *

Max stood at the food counter; sipping some wine as she unconsciously looked for someone.

'Where is he?' she thought. She blinked. 'Who? Who am I looking for?' But somehow she knew. She scanned the crowd for the familiar blond head, and was so wrapped up in her task that she didn't notice him walk up to her.

"You look stunning Maxie," Zack said.

She turned her head, and smiled at having found her target.

"Thank you," she said.

He smiled slightly and held out his dance. "Would you like to dance?"

As if on cue the music changed to a slow tempo and all the couples in the room paired up and moved toward the dance floor.

"Why not?" she said, putting down her glass and accepting his offered hand. He grasped it tightly and led her towards the dance floor then pulled her gently into his arms. She rested her head on his chest and he wrapped his arms possessively around her waist. They swayed softly to the music, everyone else falling away. It was just the music and each other. Max's eyes fluttered closed and she let Zack lead the dance.

Standing beside the stereo, Coco and Crystal grinned. They bumped fists and watched Max and Zack.

"Mission," Coco started.

"Accomplished," Crystal finished. They stood there, still watching when Tawny came over and offered a hand to Crystal.

"Dance?"

Crystal smiled. "Sure."

* * *

Liz walked over to Max.

"You're beautiful Liz," he said.

"Thank you. Remember though, Cinderella turns back into a soldier tomorrow," she said.

Max chuckled. "Well, I think it was a servant but whatever floats your boat." He turned serious. "I love you Liz, in whatever form you are. Normal girl, soldier, _or_ Cinderella."

"So if I'm Cinderella, does that make you my prince charming?" she asked.

"Why of course, fair maiden," he said, tugging her onto the dance floor.

* * *

"You're sexy and beautiful, a great combination," Alec whispered in Faith's ear as they danced.

"And you're hot, dangerous, cocky and funny, my fave type," she whispered back.

"Well, I'll pretend I didn't hear the cocky part and take that as a compliment," he said laughing.

"It was meant to be one," she said.

"Good, because I don't think that my delicate male ego could handle it if it wasn't," he joked.

"I wouldn't say your ego is exactly delicate, I mean, it's pretty big," Faith said teasingly.

"Now that hurts," he said with a mock pout.

"Shut up and dance, or I'll kick your ass," she said.

Alec shook his head. "Wow, it must run in the family. You and Max both have obsessions with my ass."

She punched him in the shoulder.

"Yeah, I think that runs in the family too," he said with a grimace, rubbing his shoulder.

* * *

After they finished their dance, Max and Zack reluctantly pulled apart.

"It's a little hot in here; do you want to go outside for some fresh air?" Zack asked.

Max nodded. "Yeah, it's really crowded. We can come back later."

They moved towards the door but as soon as they were under it, Ruby blurred in front of them, grinning evilly. She didn't say anything, just pointed upwards.

Max looked up to see mistletoe.

"Who put that up?" she asked.

"I did, now get on with it guys. You know I'm very patient, I can wait all night," Ruby said.

The rest of their brothers and sisters came over and formed a circle around them, making sure there were no gaps so that they couldn't get away.

"Come on guys," Zack tried, but they all shook their heads.

"Cindy?" Max pleaded, but her so-called best friend just shook her head and joined in in the circle.

"Rube, you may have lots of patience but I don't," Michael said. He walked forwards and pushed Max into Zack, her not falling only because Zack had caught her.

She looked around, but trying to escape was futile. So she did the only thing she could do, throwing Zack off guard.

She kissed him.

At first it was a gentle, testing sort of kiss but soon became passionate and deep, their arms wrapping around each other and the world falling away once again. In the distance, they vaguely heard the sounds of their brothers and sisters hooting, cheering and whistling, but they didn't pay any attention to them. All that mattered was each other.

Zack swept his tongue around the recesses of her mouth, tasting every part. At last he pulled away when they ran out of breath, foreheads resting against the others, panting heavily.

Max smiled. "Merry Christmas Zack."

He smiled back. "Merry Christmas Maxie."

* * *

In the hallway stood Logan. He finished his work early and decided to come after all. He was all dressed up in a tux and had his hair slicked back, but the gift he had brought for Max fell out of his hand when he found her in Zack's arms, kissing him without a care in the world. His throat became choked up.

'How could she?' he asked himself. 'I thought – " After not being able to stand watching them anymore, he picked his gift back up and headed to his apartment in T.C..

* * *

It was like Max was on a high ever since the kiss. She couldn't stop laughing and smiling.

'I never felt like this when I was with Logan,' the rational part of her mind said. 'What are you talking about? Logan's the one for you,' the irrational part argued back. Max thought back to how she felt when Zack held her, his mouth on hers, and suddenly the rational part became a whole lot louder. 'Maybe this is who I belong with.'

Zack noticed she was lost in thought and nudged her.

"Y'okay?" he asked.

"Mmhmm," she mumbled. She leaned against him and closed her eyes, not explaining anything about what she was thinking, but he didn't ask. He just held her and she seemed content.

That was when everything messed up.

"Max! Max!" shouted an X6 named Ryan.

Her eyes opened immediately. "What's wrong?"

"It's White," Ryan said. "He was spotted a little way off from the gates of T.C., just sitting in his car. It looks like he was waiting for something to happen."

"What do you mean?" she asked but Ryan didn't have time to answer because numerous loud explosions went off and everything went black.

* * *

A/N: Did you like it? I'm sorry if this chapter was a little crummy; I wrote this late and I was tired but I wanted to get this story updated. Sry if this isn't too good. Please review!

Thanks to –

shygirl1 – Thanks for reviewing! Hope you liked the mistletoe part.

Taye – Thanks for reviewing!

Angel Of Darkness231 – Thanks for reviewing! I'm sry for not having the little visit happening but I just couldn't fit it in this chapter because I had an idea and the whole thing went sideways. But I PROMISE there will be one next chapter. I thought about a little convo with Spike. LOL And I think we share a brain because Jondy and Zane were going to be together from the start. (LOL Wow, I've never shared a brain before LOL)

screaminheathen69 – Thanks for reviewing! It's great to have a new reviewer!

Sorry for not having much Roswell or BTVS in this chapter, there will be more in the next chapter and after that. Please review and for those who haven't already, plz read "Whose Love?" and "Tell Her".


	9. Exploding Happiness

Disclaimer: Don't own anything except my own characters. They're everyone who you don't recognize.

A/N: Hope you guys are enjoying this. Plz review and if you recommend this story to others it would be greatly appreciated.

* * *

Buffy and Spike entered the party room and both went immediately to the food table. Hey, when you save the world on a daily basis and have freaky vampires chasing after you looking to kill you, you don't exactly have time to stop and eat.

They leaned against the tables and chatted for awhile about everything that had happened lately.

"So," Buffy started. "I find out my best friend's a genetically engineered supersoldier, so are Coco and Faith, their sister is supposed to save the world from something we don't even know yet, their other sister's boyfriend is an alien and she herself possesses some otherworldly powers, and know we're living in a toxic waste dump that we now call home."

Spike nodded and grinned. "Our lives are pretty strange huh? I mean, I think I can honestly say that I've seen it all and that nothing else can surprise me."

"And back to that whole 'Max saving the world' thing, how is she supposed to save humanity if she doesn't even know who she's saving it from?" Buffy said. She frowned. "Actually, considering all that's happened, I should say _what_ she's saving it from."

"Aw now hon, jealous are ya? This time it's not you who's gonna do the world saving and that just ticks you off, don't it?" Spike teased.

"No!" Buffy declared. "It's just that I hope she's up to the job, because from the sounds of things, this whole 'Coming' is pretty big."

"If she's anything like Faith, which I think she is, she'll be able to do it. Don't worry so much luv," Spike said. "Hey. Wanna dance?"

She nodded and they moved to the dance floor, rocking to the beat. They were both having a great time when an explosion went off, and darkness overwhelmed them.

* * *

Emerald leaned against a wall, looking wistfully at her brothers and sisters. She smiled at seeing them so happy, spending the special Christmas day with their sweethearts or someone who meant a lot to them. Hell, even Max and Zack were lost in their own little world. She just wished she could have something like that too.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice someone trying to get her attention. A hand waved in front of her face. She blinked then smiled at the person in front of her.

"Hey," she said. "Xander… right?"

"Yeah," he said. He looked her over. "You look really great tonight Emerald."

She blushed, something that was unusual for a Manticore soldier. "Thanks. You too."

"Would you like to dance?" he asked.

She smiled. "I'd love to."

They walked to the dance floor and stayed there, dancing for a while until they both decided they needed a drink. She felt so happy inside, she thought she would burst. Xander was sweet and she liked him. Maybe this Christmas wouldn't be so bad. At least she had someone to spend it with.

Her joy was short-lived when a flash of bright light and an explosion rendered her unconscious.

* * *

Willow had met Michael, one of the Roswell aliens, and they had really hit it off. They danced, they ate, and they talked for the whole entire party. She found out they had a lot in common.

"You know what I like to do?" Willow asked. "Just lie down in the sunshine, letting the warmth invade my body and not think about a single thing."

Michael's eyes brightened. "Hey, me too! Nothing's better than to just relax, especially when that opportunity comes so rarely. You know, with all the fights and battles and stuff. It makes you completely exhausted."

"Tell me about it. Once, I was so tired I couldn't move for a week. I don't know how Buffy always does it. She battles demons and vampires day and night and I never see her rest," Willow said.

"That sucks, but it's life. If anyone said that life was easy, I'd – "

Michael was suddenly cut off by a loud explosion, throwing them apart and the impact of hitting ground knocked both of them out.

* * *

Maria sat on one of the benches in a little clearing at the back of T.C., feeling totally and irrevocably left out. She didn't belong with any of them. Some were aliens, some were slayers, and some were enhanced humans. She was just a boring ordinary girl with not much action or adventure in her life at all. She couldn't relate to any of them.

"This Christmas sucks," she muttered.

"Why? Christmas is supposed to be a good time," a guy said, sitting down next to her. She looked up.

"So what are you?" she asked. "Slayer or genetically engineered?"

The guy laughed. She liked his laugh.

"Do I look like a transgenic or a slayer to you?" he asked.

True, he wasn't a male model like all the transgenics seemed to be, and he didn't have the slayer type of look, but who was she to judge when she knew almost nothing about all of them?

"I don't know," she said.

The guy shook his head. "I'm not exactly the most impressive guy in the place. My name's Calvin, but everyone calls me Sketchy. I'm just a normal human, like you seem to be."

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

He laughed again. "Yup. All human, no powers, through and through."

"My name's Maria. Don't you ever feel sort of left out that your friends can do things that you can't?" she asked.

"Well, yeah, sure, who wouldn't be? But they're my friends, and I support them. Besides, they don't have everything going for them. People are looking to kill them, and they haven't had the nicest life. So, I'm kind of happy to be me. A boring bike messenger with no life at all."

"You're not in the least boring, and I'm sure you have a life," she said defensively. "I think it's heartwarming that you care so much about your friends."

She liked this Sketchy. Maybe he wasn't Brad Pitt, or anything close, but he was nice and friendly and just like her.

"So – " but all of a sudden she screamed as something exploded.

* * *

Dawn walked around the grounds of T.C., enjoying the fresh, night air. She walked with her head down, looking at her shoes when she bumped into something hard and fell backwards.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the guy said. He held out a hand and helped her up. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah, f-fine, thanks," she stammered, trying hard not to get lost in a sea of green.

"I'm Zero," he said. "About the name, don't ask. It includes a very embarrassing situation."

She laughed. "Okay Zero. I'm Dawn."

"You shouldn't be out here so late, Dawn. It's not safe. You should go back inside."

She raised her chin a little, defiantly. "I can handle myself."

"Alright, alright. I'm just warning you."

She smiled warmly. "Thanks though."

Suddenly she felt wrongness in the air. Zero noticed her edginess.

"What's wrong?"

She didn't get a chance to answer because suddenly there was a loud explosion, propelling the both of them backwards.

* * *

Jondy and Zane were making out in a broom closet when a shiver shot up Jondy's spine. Then the closet shook as an explosion went off.

* * *

A/N: Hey guys, this chapter was just to show where the others were when the explosions went off. I'll have the next real chapter up soon. Please review!

Thanks to –

Doza – Thanks for reviewing! I hoped you liked this chapter 'cause I did it for you to show you where the others were when the explosions went off.

shygirl1 – Thanks for reviewing! Please update "All of Us" soon.

Taye – Thanks for reviewing!

longbca – Thanks for reviewing! It's great to have a new reviewer.


	10. Explosive Consequences

Disclaimer: I'm not going to bother anymore. Just see the first 9 chapters.

A/N: Please review and recommend this story to people if you can. I'm absolutely dying for reviews. LOL Hope you like this.

* * *

White stood a little way off from T.C., enjoying the view. He watched as one by one, the explosions went off and screams echoed in the distance. There were bright lights flashing and they seemed like fireworks, except the cries were of terror and not joy. As suddenly as it started, it stopped and the sky became dark again, everything going silent. The wind blew through the place, rustling papers, littered garbage and leaves, lifting some into the air. T.C. still remained fairly intact; the point of the explosions weren't to destroy the building and kill them all, although that would have certainly been an added plus. No, the explosions served as a warning. They reminded the transgenics and whatever other type of freak they had in there – aliens or slayers – that White was still there. The Familiars were still around, staying in the shadows. And now they were back, stronger than before with the help of the Purest.

Hilda materialized beside him and grinned at the cemetery-like scene.

"We did this well," she said.

"Yes. It'll teach those filthy freaks a lesson," White responded.

They stood there for a few minutes, not saying anything until Jaquen appeared.

"I know you're having fun but you two need to come back to HQ. The Conclave is gathering for a meeting," Jaquen told them. White and Hilda nodded and with a wave of her hand, they disappeared into thin air.

* * *

Zack groaned and struggled to open his eyes. His head was throbbing painfully and it felt like it would explode. _Explode_ The word stayed in his mind. _Explosions. Screaming. Bright lights. Max screaming. Max. Max!_ He forced his eyes open and looked around with horror. Bodies littered the ground, most bloodied and coming to like himself, but some resting immobile and pale. He pushed himself off the floor and leaned against the wall for support as he became dizzy. He surveyed the damage to the room.

Some of the ceiling had caved in and beams and pillars lay across the floor. Some walls were blasted through but others were intact, having only some plaster blown off. The room wasn't in such bad condition. It would take a while to repair but it could have been worse. He just hoped the med bay hadn't been hit. They couldn't afford to have the medical stuff destroyed. He grimaced as he saw all the blood around the room. Thankfully more and more people were waking up and tending to the others who were in grave conditions. The room smelled smoky and Zack had to take a few minutes to clear his head and check himself over.

He soon found out he wasn't so badly hurt and most of the damage was cuts and bruises. He started walking toward an X5 helping a little X8 when out of the corner of his eye, he caught a pale slender hand sticking out from beneath a fallen beam. The color drained from his face and his heart stopped. Holding his breath, he walked over to the beam and slowly lifted it off the person. It was Max.

Zack thought he would die right then and there. Trying not to let fear and panic seep into him, he tenderly pulled her to him.

"Max," he whispered, trying hard not to cry. He checked her over. She was hurt badly, really badly. There was blood all over her, darker than the color of her dress. Her face was almost a pale white from blood loss, and more blood trickled down the side of her face. Her head hung to the side, her hair a filthy mixture of blood and debris. He ran his fingers over her face gently, praying to the Blue Lady that she would be alright.

"Help!" he called, his voice hoarse. "Somebody help! Max is hurt!"

As soon as everyone heard their leader's name, a bunch of people rushed over. They scurried about, checking her over, seeing how much blood she had lost and sending people ahead to check med bay's condition. One X5 tried to take her from Zack, but he wouldn't let go of her seemingly lifeless body.

Spike and Buffy, who had recovered quickly due to their slayer and vampire powers, walked up to Zack.

"Hey buddy," Spike said. "I know you're scared but ya gotta let them take her so that they can make her better."

"She's…" Zack trailed off, not knowing what to say or do.

"She's not dead Zack. I've only known Max for a short time, but from what I've seen so far, she's strong. She'll hang tight. But you going ballistic is not going to help her," Buffy said.

"I love her," Zack said under his breath, forgetting for a moment that there were many transgenics, Buffy and Spike around him and because of their enhanced abilities, could hear what he had said.

No one showed on their faces that they had heard what he had said, knowing it was supposed to be a private comment. An X6 came running to them.

"Med bay isn't so bad," he said. "A little dusty, but everything's fine. There are a lot of people there so far, but Tara's all ready to check her over."

Zack wordlessly picked her up and started walking toward med bay with many others trailing.

* * *

Maria stirred, feeling like every bone in her body was broken. When she opened her eyes, she saw Sketchy kneeling over her, battered and bruised like she was.

"You okay?" he asked.

She nodded and sat up slowly. "What the hell happened?" she asked. She looked towards the building, seeing wreckage everywhere.

"My God," she breathed.

Sketchy followed her gaze. "Yeah, I know. I hope that everyone's alright in there, and that no one's seriously hurt. We're lucky that we were out here when all those explosions went off."

"Why do you think they did?" Maria asked. "Do you think it's the military, or…?"

Sketchy shook his head. "It's probably White. That asshole has been trying to get rid of all the transgenics since day one. Too bad he hasn't got that stick out of his ass yet."

Maria looked worriedly at the building. "I know almost all of them are super humans and stuff, but even an explosion like that could kill one of them." She bit her lip. "I hope they're okay. All of them." She looked at Sketchy. "I can hear people moving around in there. We should walk around; see if we can help with anything. We've only got cuts here and there, we should see if we can help with the injured. I don't want to sit around out here safe when there are people possibly dying in there."

Sketchy nodded. "Let's go in. I need to see if my friends are okay. Plus, Original Cindy and Logan are in there, and they're not transgenic. They might be really hurt because their bodies can't heal like the others."

They got up, dusted themselves off and headed into T.C.'s main building.

* * *

Krit and Syl were helping out in med bay when they saw Zack walk in carrying their youngest sister, covered in blood with her arms and head dangling. They immediately dropped the bandages they were holding and rushed to her.

"What the hell happened to her!" Syl yelled, rushing around gathering supplies. It was Krit who was field medic back at Manticore but since he was in a state of shock, it looked like she was the one who had to keep her head.

"My baby sister," Krit said silently. "My only real sister."

Syl slapped him gently on the back of his head. "Get moving. We need to help Tara fix her up. It looks like she's lost a lot of blood; we need to transfuse her, ASAP." She stopped moving around when she realized he still wasn't doing anything except standing still, looking at Max with tears in his eyes.

"Krit, stop acting like she's dead. She's not, Maxie's strong. She'll get through this, but only if you keep your head in the game," Syl said. She nudged him. "Take a look at Zack."

Krit did as he was told and saw his oldest brother still standing there holding his little sister, looking lost and almost childlike. He was slightly trembling, eyes locked on Max.

'Syl's right,' Krit thought. 'It doesn't look like Zack's in any shape to take charge, so I guess the rest of us will have to. I'm not letting my little sister die.'

With that, Krit tugged on Zack's arm and led him to where Tara was waiting for Max. He saw her grimace when she saw the condition their leader was in.

"Bring her over here," Tara ordered. "Quickly, no delay."

Zack obeyed and softly laid Max down on the hospital bed.

"Now stand back," Tara said. "We might need to do some complicated stuff, so no distractions."

Krit walked over to where Tara stood and started to help her bring Max back to health.

Syl walked up to Zack. "Hey big brother. Look, I know you're hurting and scared right now, we all are, but standing here watching is not going to accomplish anything. Why don't you come with me and see if there's anything we can do for the others?"

Zack looked like he was going to refuse for a second, but then he nodded his head. With one last look at Max, he followed Syl out the door.

* * *

Dawn and Zero awoke almost at the same time to find themselves lying on top of one another. Dawn blushed and hastily rolled off him, trying hard not to look at him. The only problem was that he moved until he was right in front of her. She was starting to get lost in that sea of foam green again.

"Are you alright?" he asked, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

She looked herself over. "Yeah, I think I'm fine," she said.

She caught him looking her over too. "You sure are," he said under his breath.

She giggled softly and he grinned at her. They both looked back towards the building. "I need to get back in there," Dawn said. "My sister's in there."

"Who's your sister?" Zero asked.

"Buffy Summers. She's a slayer," Dawn explained.

Zero's eyes widened. "Really? Cool. Do you have powers too?"

"Yeah, some. But nothing like my sister," Dawn said.

Zero nodded. "Okay, let's get in there. I have some friends I need to find too."

* * *

Maxwell woke up to find Liz lying beside him, blood all over.

"Jesus," he muttered, as he raised a hand over her and started to heal her. He looked around to see how everyone was. There were many people on the ground that weren't moving, the people with somber faces gathered around them telling him they were dead. He continued healing Liz and the process was complete a minute or so later and her eyes opened.

"Max?" she asked wearily.

"Yeah. Don't worry, you're alright. I healed you," he said.

"Thanks honey." She sat up and gave him a quick kiss. "I need to find my family now and see if they're okay."

"Michael, Isabel, Willow, Jesse, Buffy and Spike are fine," he told her. "I saw them walking around. I think I saw Faith leaving the room too. I have no idea where Maria is."

Liz bit her lip. "I'll go find her. I hope she wasn't in the building when everything went to hell."

Max nodded. "I'll go around healing people."

She kissed him again briefly. "Thanks. See you soon. Be careful, some of the beams may not be sturdy and can cave in."

"I will," he said. "Promise."

She walked off and he went to the nearest people he saw that needed medical attention. He raised a hand over them and they smiled gratefully at him as he started to heal their bloodied bodies.

* * *

Alec ran through the halls towards med bay after hearing that Max had been severely hurt. As much as he hated to admit it, the ice queen had found a place in his heart as something like family. He cared about her like his own bitchy sister with an almost permanent case of PMS and who had a tendency to hit him. A smile tugged at his lips at the thought.

'My sister. Who would have guessed I'd be referring to her like that in my lifetime?'

He stopped when he saw Mole starting to get up, his suit charred.

"Hey buddy. You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," Mole grumbled. "Knew something like this was gonna happen. Christmas, a holiday, ha! As if! Christmas is just another day to bomb the hell out of people when they're celebrating to make them miserable. Christ, I need another cigar."

Alec laughed despite the distressing circumstances. "Sorry. All out." Then he continued blurring towards med bay.

* * *

Jondy and Zane were walking through the halls and rooms, writing down a list of everyone who had been killed in the explosions.

They stopped at another body, and Zane bent down to close the transgenic's eyes out of respect.

A tear slipped down Jondy's cheek. "Another dead person. There have already been 11 and the list is growing."

Zane hugged her. "Hey. It could have been worse." They were about to start walking again when they bumped into an almost zombie-looking Zack and Syl.

"Geez bro, what's wrong?" Zane asked. "You look like you've been through hell and back."

Zack just uttered one word. "Max."

That got them worried.

"Is she okay?" Jondy asked. "Tell me!" she pleaded. Over the course of her life, she had thought Max had died twice. The first time when she had fallen through the ice. The second time when she really had died at Manticore. She just got her sister back and there was no way she was going to lose her again.

"She's in a bad condition," Syl said quietly. "Krit and Tara are working on her right now."

Zane closed his eyes. "Please, blue lady. I've never been much of a praying man but please let our baby sister be alright."

* * *

Bobby, Michael (DA), Tawny and Jordan each lay in a hospital bed in med bay. They all had broken bones and Evan, Ruby, Aqua, Emerald, Crystal and Coco worked on them.

"You know, I can get used to being pampered," Bobby joked.

"Want me to break another bone?" Coco asked sweetly.

Bobby shuddered. "Violent women," he muttered.

Aqua swatted him. "Grow up."

"So Em," Ruby started. "You and Xander looked pretty cozy tonight. Anything to share?"

"Pray tell," Jordan said. "If I'm going to be stuck in a hospital bed, I might as well have entertainment."

"There's nothing to tell," Emerald said hotly.

Michael snickered. "Ah, the sweet sound of denial. We're going to have to help her get over that, now won't we?"

Emerald stepped back as her siblings surrounded her.

* * *

Alec walked into the room where Max was and found Krit transfusing her. He frowned when he saw the state she was in.

"So how is our leader?" he asked, sitting down and picking up another I.V. kit to start transfusing her as well.

"Well, we've done all we can do," Krit said. "The rest is up to her. We thought about getting Liz's boyfriend to heal her, but even if he does, he still won't be able to get her to wake up. She needs to have the will to recover, or else she won't. But for now she's stable. Let's just hope she stays that way."

"Did you tell Zack?" Alec asked.

Krit shook his head. "Not yet. And I don't want to either 'cause he's going to be even more down than he is now."

Alec looked at Max. "He really loves her, doesn't he? And she doesn't even realize it."

"I think she does but she's too scared to admit it," Krit said. "She's been with Logan for such a long time now; she uses him as her safety. Hopefully she'll realize that she could have more with Zack, and soon."

"You're probably right, she is scared. I mean, for the first ten years of her life or so, he was her psychological brother. Now she's realizing that she might have not so sisterly feelings for him, and it's probably terrifying her," Alec said. He chuckled. "Typical ol' Maxie. Doesn't want to admit she's wrong."

"Speaking of Logan, an X5 found him in his apartment unconscious. The thing is it wasn't from the explosions. He was so drunk he passed out," Krit said.

Alec shook his head. "What a loser. I looked around for Original Cindy and she's fine. She's getting one of the transgenic females looking her over. She had that whole 'This will be my new lickety boo' look on her face."

Krit laughed. "That woman just cracks me up."

"Tell me about it," Alec said. He looked at Max. "Oh come on Maxie, wake up. Zack looks like he's practically dying without you and it's killing the rest of us. Hey, make you a deal. If you wake up, you can hit me and kick my ass all you want, huh? Come on, how can you pass up an offer like that? It's priceless!"

Krit laughed uncontrollably. "The look of disbelief on your face that she's passing up your offer is priceless."

Alec shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say? It's shocking."

That sent the both of them into another laughing fit.

* * *

On a hill outside T.C., a young Asian woman with long, jet black hair stood watching the place. She shifted her backpack on her shoulders and started walking towards T.C.'s main building. She stopped halfway there, saw all the commotion, and walked the other way, back to where she came from.

'I won't see them just yet. Something happened and they're not ready to see me yet. I'll come back tomorrow. I just pray to the Blue Lady that they won't hate me for what I've done.'

* * *

A/N: Hey guys. I hope you liked this chapter. Please show me some love people and start reviewing. I only got 2 reviews for the last chapter and it's making me wonder if you guys aren't interested in this anymore. Ok, so plz plz plz plz plz review everyone! Thanks!

Thanks to –

shygirl1 – Thanks for always reviewing!

longbca – Thanks for reviewing!

Please review everyone!


	11. Awakenings, Betrayals, and Arrivals

A/N: Plz review everyone!

* * *

As dawn broke, things in T.C. were finally settling down somewhat. Thankfully most of the injuries hadn't been serious, and those that had been were healed by Maxwell. Unfortunately, Max's condition was something he couldn't just heal. She was in serious condition, and as every hour passed, everyone in Terminal City grew more worried for their leader. Max's family visited regularly, as did Joshua, Alec, the slayers and the Roswell gang, but so far her state hadn't changed. She still stayed unconscious, her body healing itself but something was holding her back from awakening.

Zack sat at her bedside where he hadn't moved from for hours. His hands were folded on her stomach and his head rested on them. He was vaguely aware of someone entering the room then laying a hand on his shoulder. He lifted his head slowly and turned around.

Faith stood behind him with a tray of food and water. She put it down on the table beside Max's bed.

"You need to eat," she told him gently. "You must be hungry, big brother."

Zack shook his head. "I'm fine," he said adamantly.

"Stop being so stubborn," Faith said. "Max wouldn't want you to destroy yourself. Now, go and take a shower then rest for a little bit."

"I already had a shower when Alec practically threw me into one," Zack said. "I'm fine, just leave me alone."

Faith picked up a sandwich she had brought. "At least eat a little. Deteriorating is not going to help bring her back. Besides, Max will kick all of our asses when she finds out that we let you become a zombie. Because she will, Zack. Max is going to come back and she is going to give you one hell of a mouthful. I'll be surprised if I don't see your body flying across the training grounds later on."

At that, Zack let out a small chuckle and Faith smiled, pleased at making progress. "Now eat," she ordered. "Don't make me sic some vampires on you."

Zack threw his hands up into the air in surrender. "All right. Sheesh, Manticore just had to make all my baby sisters headstrong and bossy, didn't they?"

Faith grinned. "Since you've come out of your shell I won't hurt you for that comment." She flexed her fingers. "I do have powers for a reason you know. To kick ass. And I will kick your white one all the way to China if you don't eat and rest a little."

She mock glared at him then grinned and walked out.

Zack shook his head as he picked up his sandwich and started eating. "Violent women," he muttered.

* * *

Logan awoke in his apartment, head hurting and feeling like he was going to throw up.

"Bad hangover, mate?" a voice asked.

Logan whipped his head around to where the voice came from, but instantly regretted it because it made his head hurt even more. He eventually found the owner of the voice sitting in an armchair in the corner of his room.

"Who are you?" he asked suspiciously.

"Name's Spike," the guy replied. "But you might want to ask _what_ am I." He grinned and bared his teeth. Logan felt a shiver go through him.

"Um, I'm assuming that you're one of the newcomers," Logan said. He knew that Max had come back with not only her family but some other people too. The thing is, he hadn't met any of them formally due to some Eyes Only work he had to do and didn't know about their… differences.

"Yeah. Part of the slayer crew," he said.

"Slayer?" Logan asked quizzically.

"Yeah, slayer. You know, people who slay vampires and demons and such."

Logan paled. "There aren't seriously things like vampires. They're just a legend."

"Oh really?" Spike said. He walked closer until he was almost nose to nose with Logan. "Bit funny then. 'Cause you're talking to one right now." He grinned.

Logan stepped back, tripping over some shoes that he had thrown onto the floor the night before. He fell and started pushing himself back, away from the vampire.

"Relax, mate. I'm not gonna hurtcha." Spike stopped to think. "Well, not unless you give me a reason to."

"I-I won't," Logan stuttered out.

"Glad we understand each other," Spike said. He kneeled down in front of Logan. "Now I suggest you stop your bad drinking habit."

Logan nodded. "Yes, I know. I will."

"Good boy," Spike said, gently patting him on the cheek. "We'll get along just fine. But let's get one thing straight. I don't like people who think they are superior to others just because they're fully human. Because the fact is, if anything, we're the ones who are superior because we have powers and you mere mortals don't. So if you ever act all high and mighty like you're better than any one of us, slayers, vampires, transgenics or aliens, you really will be eyes only. Because that'll be all that's left of ya."

Logan's eyes went wide at several of the things Spike had said.

"Aliens?" he choked out. "There are aliens here? Wait a minute, how do you know I'm Eyes Only?"

Spike smirked. "Liz who is Max's sister happens to have some alien powers and her boyfriend and friends are aliens from outer space. And I know you're Eyes Only because you're a blithering idiot like he is and because your eyes are exactly the same."

Logan raised his chin. "Eyes Only is an important asset to society and he rights the wrongs in the world," he said indignantly. "He does things out of the kindness of his heart and you shouldn't speak about him that way."

Spike got in his face. "Remember what I said about being high and mighty?" he asked dangerously. Logan gulped, then nodded.

"Right. Sorry."

Spike got up. "Well then, seeing as you're awake and apparently fine which is proven by your idiocy, I'll be going."

He walked to the door, smiled dangerously and walked out.

Logan wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Aliens, vampires and slayers. What the hell is the world coming to?"

Spike heard the comment from outside and chuckled. "Oh, I'm going to have fun with him." Then he started walking towards his and Buffy's apartment with a spring in his step.

* * *

The Asian woman from the night before woke up in the dumpy motel she had stayed in. She sat up in her bed and checked the watch she was wearing. She got out of bed, took a shower and tried her best to look neat. She then picked up her backpack and stared at herself in the mirror. An oval face, with a clear complexion, perfect features and almond-shaped eyes stared back at her. Her hair was in a loose ponytail. She took a deep breath then climbed out the fire escape so she wouldn't have to pay for the room. Off in the far distance, she could make out T.C. and if she zoomed in, could see the sentries on duty. She closed her eyes and silently prayed. _Please, let them forgive me for everything I've done._ Then she jumped down and started making her way towards the building.

* * *

Jesse and Isabel sat in a little café shop in downtown Seattle.

"I feel bad for Liz," Jesse said. "Her sister's in a really bad state."

"Yeah," Isabel agreed. She shuddered. "I'd hate it if something like that happened to any one of you guys."

Jesse stirred his coffee. Isabel looked up suddenly.

"Jesse?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah?" he replied.

She fiddled with her spoon. "Do you ever… I mean, do you…"

"Spit it out, Iz," Jesse said.

"Do you ever regret having a girlfriend who puts you in danger all the time? Whose life is so screwed up she doesn't know what's going to happen next? To have people after her all the time that she's constantly running away? Don't you ever wish you could just settle down with a normal girl and not worry about my problems?" she asked hurriedly.

Jesse's face softened. He leaned across the table and hugged her. When he pulled back he lifted her head slightly to meet his eyes, to let her know that she didn't have to be embarrassed.

"Iz, that never mattered to me," he said. "So what if you've got people after you? It's not like you asked for it. It's something you just can't help. Besides, if I didn't want to be in danger I wouldn't be with you. But I am and that's because I love you. I'd rather risk it than not be able to be with you, don't you understand that?"

She smiled at him. "You have a way with words."

He grinned. "I read, I watch soap operas, I learn. All in a day's work."

She laughed. "Let's get out of here." They paid the bill and walked back towards T.C.

* * *

Logan made his way towards where Max was in med bay. He had thought a lot about that kiss she shared with Zack and decided it was probably an accident, she didn't mean it, or he forced her into it. Either way, he would forgive her and they would go on together as if nothing had happened. After all, it couldn't have meant anything. She only cared about Zack as a brother and besides, who would choose Zack over him?

* * *

Zack dutifully stayed at his position beside Max when Krit's words came back to him.

_She needs to have the will to recover, or else she won't._

"The will," Zack whispered. He moved closer to Max and stroked her sweating face. "Maxie, come back, please. We all need you. Our family needs you, Joshua and Alec do, hell all of T.C. does. They need their leader." He rested his head on her chest. "I need you," he whispered. "Really badly Maxie. You can't leave me. Come back to me. Please, Maxie. I'll do anything if you just come back to me. I love you Maxie, more than anything. You can't die; I need to have the chance to tell you that. Please, come back. We're all worried about you. You need to wake up so you can kick my ass for not doing anything except mope. Come on Maxie. Alec's even offered to let you kick his ass." He sighed when he got no reaction from her. "At least I tried."

In Max's mind, some of the words penetrated through her brain. _Max was running down a seemingly endless hall. She knew someone was chasing her, she could feel it. She tried every door, but none would open. They were getting closer, closing in on her. It was dark; everywhere she turned there was darkness. But suddenly she heard something to lift her spirits. A voice, a voice that brought some light to wherever she was. The more she ran the more the voice got louder. She recognized it now. It belonged to Zack. "Come back to me, Maxie," Zack's voice called. She kept running toward the door at the end of the hall, where it was shining with light. She struggled as she felt the people chasing her come closer and closer. "I need you Maxie," Zack's voice said again. "Wake up." 'I'm trying,' she thought. 'I'm trying, I need help.' She kept running, pushing her legs to go faster. The door was coming closer…

* * *

_

Logan burst through the door of med bay and ran into Max's room. Zack scowled at the interruption but didn't say anything to him. Logan walked over to Max's other side and reached out as if to touch her ace, but remembered he couldn't. He pulled his hand back with a sigh. Zack grinned inwardly. 'That's right, don't touch her. It'll kill you Loggie boy. Not that I mind. But for some unknown reason you're important to Max so unfortunately I can't get my wish.' Zack reached out and held Max's hand, trying to block out the fact that Logan was there with them. Zack just wanted his time alone with Max.

Logan glared at Zack as he held her hand. 'That bastard can touch her but I can't. It's not fair. He doesn't have the right to touch her.'

"I know you forced Max to kiss you yesterday," Logan sneered. "Well guess what, it was mistake and she didn't mean it."

Zack laughed. "I didn't kiss her. It was the other way around."

Logan blanched. "Sure."

"You can lie to yourself all you want Logan, I don't care. I'm just trying to get your facts straight," Zack said.

"She would never kiss you," Logan said. "She thinks of you as her brother."

Zack shrugged. "How am I supposed to know what she thinks?" He gently caressed her face, making Logan glower. 'Logan's not right, is he Maxie? You didn't think that kiss was a mistake, did you?'

Logan slapped Zack's hand away and Zack was barely able to restrain his anger.

"Max," Logan said. "I know you want to come back to me. I know you love my cooking, and my looks, and you want nothing more than for me to hold you but I can't because of the virus. I know sweetie, it's killing me too, but you gotta hang tight and come back to me."

Zack thought he was going to puke when he heard Logan call her sweetie and start rambling on about a bunch of bullshit.

"Come on Maxie," Zack whispered under his breath. "Come back so you can kick this fool's ass."

_Max kept running toward the door, she was almost there. But so were the people chasing her. Zack's voice came back. "Come on Maxie," he said. "Come back." Max leaped at the door and turned the knob. She found herself in the light once again._

Max's head moved and both Logan and Zack watched with growing hope as her eyes slowly fluttered open. Logan put on a big smile to greet her but her next words turned his smile into a look of fury.

"Zack," she moaned. "Zack?" She looked around somewhat frantically. "Zack," she called out.

"Right here," he said. He smirked when he saw the look on Logan's face. She relaxed when she saw him and held out her arms like a baby asking to be carried. He leaned forward and hugged her tightly. "You had us worried, Maxie. Glad to have you back," he murmured.

"Feels good to be back," she said. He pulled back and she gave him a 100 watt smile. She turned her head slightly and saw Logan.

"Hey Logan," she greeted warmly. He just stared at her for a moment with a look of betrayal across his face then he stood up and walked out.

Max turned to Zack with a look of confusion and hurt in her eyes. "What's wrong with him?"

"It's nothing Maxie," Zack soothed. "He's happy you're back. He's just having a hard time with Eyes Only."

Max nodded and hugged him again. Zack closed his eyes and they just stayed there for a moment.

"Sorry to interrupt. Did we crash a private moment?" Alec teased. Zack pulled back quickly and Max blushed.

"Nice to see you're awake Maxie Max," Alec said.

Max rolled her eyes. "Well, the offer to kick your ass was just too hard to resist."

Alec paled. "I offered that? Really? 'Cause I don't remember…"

Zane laughed and punched Alec in the arm. "You're screwed man."

"Hey guys, look who I found," Coco said, pulling someone out from behind her. An Asian woman walked into the room and everyone went silent.

"Brin," Max breathed.

* * *

A/N: Haha, bet all of you guys saw that coming. I hope you liked this, please review everyone!

Thanks so very much to –

Claire – Thanks so much for reviewing! LOL Glad you liked the whole dressing up people according to their name or eye colour. It's great to have a new reviewer!

shygirl1 – Thanks so much for reviewing! Yes, you were right, it was Brin. Max and Zack will officially hook up soon I think. I wanted to make it a little longer off from now to put in a little flirting and stuff, but now I'm not sure if I will or not. Either way, they'll get together soon enough. We'll see. As for White, he's going to get an ass-kicking soon.

Doza – Thanks so much for reviewing! Don't worry, there'll be a lot of Logan bashing in the future. And if you have any ideas for some, I'll be happy to consider putting them in my fic.

screaminheathen69 – Thanks so much for reviewing! LOL You're right about Dawn whipping up a portal to send Logan of somewhere. I have a favour to ask though. I haven't really watched much of BTVS, if you don't mind, do you mind giving an idea on the type of powers Dawn, Buffy, Faith, Willow, etc. have? Only if you can find the time, thanks:)

Tarzo – Thanks so much for reviewing! It's great to have a new reviewer!

Thanks for reviewing everyone! Please keep reviewing and I hope you're liking this so far! electronic kisses aod78


	12. Family Love

A/N: I hope you guys are still enjoying this. Please review, it only takes a second and it improves my day a lot. Yes, I know I sound like a nerd with no life except to look forward to reviews, but I just love reading them. LOL

* * *

Coco gave Brin a poke in the back and Brin slowly walked forward, standing in front of Max. She stood silent, not saying anything, just standing there with a look of sadness, guilt and shame in her eyes. It looked like she was waiting for permission to speak which saddened Max. Even though it seemed like the old Brin was back, she still didn't speak unless spoken to and that reminded Max of what Renfro had done to her. Brin was never all that talkative when they were younger but she wasn't ever so tight-lipped.

"Hey Brin," Max said.

"Hello Max," Brin said. Her voice sounded hollow even to her own ears which made her wince and try again. "How are you feeling?" This time Brin's voice was slightly warmer and not as monotonic. She tried to force a smile onto her face.

"Well, I'm not dead so I guess I'm not so bad," Max joked.

Brin smiled again, weakly but at least it was genuine. Her baby sister was so strong. To put up with the world and still not lose her head.

"Yeah, I'm glad you're okay," Brin said. She looked at the ground and bent her head. "I'm sorry," she said so softly that if all of them didn't have enhanced hearing, they probably wouldn't have heard her.

Zack got up from where he was sitting with Max and walked over to Brin. She looked up at him in wonder and he surprised her with a hug. She stood in shock.

"You're our sister Brinny," he said to her, using her old nickname. "You'll always be one of us. Besides, you have nothing to be sorry for. Nothing that happened was your fault. None of us blame you in the slightest. Renfro and Lydecker brainwashed you, you didn't do any of it. That was X5-734, not our Brin." He pulled back to look her firmly in the eye. "None of us blame you for anything that happened."

Max tried to get up from her bed to go and hug Brin as well, but pain shot up her side and she cursed under her breath. Brin moved to sit on the edge of Max's bed and Max hugged her sister fiercely.

"It's good to have you back big sister," Max said.

Brin had tears running down her face and she sobbed silently. "Why are you all being so forgiving?" she asked.

"Because you're our sister, Brin," Zane said coming forward. "We don't turn our back on our own. And we love you. Nothing changes that."

"But Tinga… I killed Tinga," she whispered. "My own sister and I killed her. I'm a monster."

"Never," Max said, taking Brin's hand. Her eyes were filled with tears as well now, the memory of Ben lying dead in her arms fresh in her mind. "I know how you feel, and it wasn't your fault. You were… lost. At least you came back to us."

'Not like Ben,' Max thought. 'He was lost too, but too lost. I couldn't help him find his way again. At least some greater force out there is giving me back Brin.'

"I should have fought them harder," Brin sobbed. "I shouldn't have let them turn me so easily."

"You were weak and sick, Brin," Max argued. "You didn't have enough strength to fight."

"Like hell I didn't. You were _dead_ and you still resisted them. You didn't let them turn you. You're so strong-willed. I could never be like that. I could've tried harder if you succeeded after dying. I was such a weak soldier; it's my fault Tinga's dead."

"Tinga wouldn't blame you if she were here Brin and neither do we," Zane said.

"You didn't know what you were doing," Coco put in. "Manticore's a horrible place and I doubt I could've resisted them."

"We've all made mistakes Brin," Faith said quietly from the door. It seemed the others had come to visit Max. "We've all done things we regret but we can't dwell on them. We can't throw away our lives if we do something wrong because if we did, not one of us would have a life."

"We've all gotten lost once or twice," Liz spoke up just as quietly as Faith. "But that's the reason why we're all here. To help each other find the right way again. We're here Brin and we love you. We'll help you find your way again."

The rest of their siblings squeezed themselves into the small room and huddled around Brin, hugging her, resting hands on her shoulders to let her know that they were there for her. Tears were streaming down her face, but this time they were of happiness, not sadness.

"Merry belated Christmas, Brin," Max said.

* * *

A/N: Sorry this was short, but I had to get something out. Anyways, I caught a mistake. I screwed up the timeline at the beginning. Remember in the first and second chapter it was New Years then it went backwards to Christmas? Well, I screwed that up but don't worry. Soon I'm going to go back and fix that. For now just pretend it was Thanksgiving. Anyways, I hope you liked this and please review everyone. It's greatly appreciated.

Thanks to –

shygirl1 – Thanks for reviewing!

Doza – Thanks for reviewing! Yeah, I know how to write Logan bashing but I wanted to see what my readers would like to read so if you have any ideas, I could put them in my fic so that you could enjoy them. With the whole Xander and Emerald thing, yeah I know it's whack but something will happen to Xander so that he gets just as strong as Emerald. Yeah, don't tell me. I know my fic is completely crazy and insane but oh well. I hope you still enjoy it.

Sequoia – Thanks for reviewing! It's great to have a new reviewer! Sorry for taking so long to update.

longbca – Thanks for reviewing! Don't worry, Maria and Sketchy will have a lil sum sum going on later. LOL

Thanks everyone! Please keep reviewing, it's greatly appreciated!


	13. Changing Feelings

A/N: Please review everyone. I don't even know if you guys like this story anymore.

* * *

Everything was finally relatively calm in Terminal City. Although it was a wreck, the damage caused from the explosions wasn't as bad as they had originally thought. Transgenics were separated into teams and were each given a section to repair. All wounded tried to help out the best they could, but most gave out orders. Max had been discharged from the Med Bay the night before, but was under strict orders from Tara not to stress herself out. She protested against this but finally gave in when it looked like her siblings weren't going to let her do anything, so she sat in her office overseeing everything and giving out instructions.

Dix, Alec, Mole, her siblings and a few other transgenics stood around her desk.

"Dix," Max said. "Make sure that all the backup generators are working. We can't have a power out at a time like this. Alec and Zack, I want you two to be in charge of making sure that everything's running smoothly. If anyone has any questions about what to do, they go to you. Mole, Syl, Zane, Jondy and Faith, you guys get the fun part. Find out what supplies we're low on, especially in the weapons department, and go out there and find some. We need somenasty stuff: grenades, guns of all sorts, RKGs, ammunition, whatever you can find. I want The Gems to find out how the fuck did White get someone inside TC to plant the explosives. Search every room for a secret opening, every rat hole, every corner, every window, leave no stone unturned."

Ruby smirked at her sister's nickname for them. "The Gems" she called them. They consisted of Emerald, Aqua, Coco, Crystal and herself.

Max stood up. "The rest of you, try to find out who White's working with. It's obvious he didn't plan his festivities on his own; even though the Familiars are all high and mighty, they are not completely immune to the bio toxins that were released a long time ago. That's why White hadn't planned a direct attack on TC up until now, even though the toxins wouldn't kill them, they don't want to come here. Now that we've found out that the toxins aren't actually so bad and that even ordinaries can be here without being harmed, it might create problems for us. It's plausible that White found out that the toxins weren't so bad so he planned the attack, but not likely. He must be working with someone who is totally immune to the toxins, someone who had men also immune to them and who could come into TC without being harmed in the slightest. I want you to find out everything about the people White's working with, and if you happen to run into one, then bring them here for questioning. However, if there are many then we only need one or two. I give you the permission to kill the rest." Max's eyes blazed. "Many people died from those explosions, and those bastards deserve to die."

Max sat back down. "Now go."

Everyone filed out of the room except Zack. He walked up to her and ignoring her curious look put his hands on her shoulders.

"Are you okay Maxie?" he asked her. "You look tired."

She gave him a soft smile. "I'm fine, thanks. You don't have to worry about me all the time. I can take care of myself."

"I'll always worry about you Maxie," he told her. He straightened up. "Get some rest." He moved towards the door but he had to quickly step back when it flung open. Logan rushed in, looking irritated. Zack glared at him, looked back at Max, then with another glare at Logan he walked out of her office.

Logan waited until the door closed then walked up to Max.

"What is it Logan?" she asked tiredly, rubbing her eyes.

"Why didn't you ask me to come for the meeting?" he asked her accusingly. "Zack was here."

Max rolled her eyes at his obvious jealousy.

"I didn't ask you to come because first of all there was no reason to and second of all you've been acting strange lately. And of course Zack was here, he's my brother and I need him."

"Oh, so you need him but not me?" Logan asked. "How brotherly is he towards you Max?"

"Why are you being like this?" she asked, her voice starting to rise. "There is nothing between me and Zack, okay Logan?"

"So you don't have any less than sisterly feelings for him?" Logan continued, not looking like he was going to let up anytime soon.

Max took a deep breath to calm herself. "I don't have feelings for Zack, Logan. At least not in the way you think I do."

'Are you sure about that?' a little treacherous voice said in her head. 'You know you liked it when he kissed you. You know you wanted him to do it again. Still want him to do it again.'

Max shook her head to clear the disturbing thoughts. 'Maybe Zack's right. I should rest. All this stress is getting to me and making me think weird things.'

"I know how close you two were back at Manticore," Logan said. "The million dollar question is though, just how close did you two become?"

"Logan!" she said, her temper starting to rise. "Why are you being so irrational? I. Do. Not. Have. Romantic. Feelings. For. Zack."

'Liar liar pants on fire,' the voice said in her head. "Fuck. Why do I have to have a damn conscience?" she cursed under her breath.

"What did you say?" Logan asked her.

She looked up. "Nothing. Look Logan, I'm really busy right now. Can you please leave?"

Logan looked at her. "Okay, I forgive you. Don't worry, I won't stop loving you." He reached out but saw the look of horror on her face and remembered the virus. He snatched his hand back. 'Soon Max, soon I'll find the cure for the virus. I'll do anything to get it so that we could be together again,' he thought.

Max rolled her eyes again at the last comment. "Bye Logan."

"See you later Max," he said as he walked out.

"God, I hope not," she muttered under her breath. Then she froze. 'What the hell's wrong with me?' she asked herself. 'Isn't he supposed to be the love of my life?' She thought of Logan and surprisingly she didn't feel a tingle shoot up her spine anymore, no quickening of her heartbeat. 'I've gotten over him,' she realized. 'The virus has kept us apart for too long. No, it's not just that. Every time we try to get together something happens. Maybe it's just not meant to be.'

She stood up and walked over to the mirror on her wall. She studied her face and everything else about her. She touched her cheek. "Have I changed?" she murmured. She thought back to how she felt when Zack had kissed her. His lips had felt so right on hers, the way he held her, so tenderly. She had long since known that Zack didn't regard her as his sister, but the kiss had stirred new emotions in her. Passion, love, wanting… needing… something she hadn't felt in a long time. Maybe she had always had those feelings for him, but had suppressed them because it felt wrong to feel those kinds of things for your brother, so they simmered beneath the surface, waiting until they could come out.

'He's not my brother,' she realized. 'I've always known this, but I didn't accept it did I? I've gone so long thinking of him as my brother, that when I didn't feel like he was anymore I pushed those feelings away.'

She touched her lips and closed her eyes, reliving that moment where everything had felt so right. She opened them again.

"What do I want?" she asked herself. "I don't know what I want."

She knew she had feelings for Zack, feelings that were strong, but what about Logan? She had feelings for him too, but the way he was acting lately, she wasn't sure if she loved him anymore. Should she try to have something with Zack, where she could have unconditional love, passion and all those other wondrous things, but risk getting hurt? Or should she stay with Logan, who was safe? That's why she was with Logan all those years; she was playing it safe so she wouldn't get hurt.

'Love is pain,' she thought. 'With love you always risk getting hurt. But it would be more painful not to experience it or take a risk at all.'

She thought about the two men in her life, one from her past, and one from her future. Both loved her, and yet she couldn't decide. Though deep down in her heart, she knew who she would choose if worst came to worst.

'Zack…' The name was on the tip of her lips. She thought about his blonde hair, his baby blues, and smiled to herself. She thought about his fit body, his…

"Crap, I need a cold shower," she said, then ran off to her room.

* * *

Mole, Jondy, Zane, Faith and Syl snuck around an ammunitions warehouse in sector 5. Syl was stocking up with all the guns and looked at them with childish delight. Syl was the complete opposite of Max, not only in appearance, but in likes. Syl adored guns, she loved tinkering with them, taking them apart and putting them back together again.

"Whoa," she whispered. "Nice Glock. Titanium. Not a scratch on it."

Faith looked at Syl in amusement. "Our sister's a nut," she said to Zane. "Look at her; she's going insane over a bunch of guns. She looks like she's in heaven."

Zane chuckled and walked over to Syl.

"Sister dear, we don't know how long it will be until someone finds the unconscious guards and the disarmed alarm system, so get a move on will you?" Zane said to her.

She glared at him and stuck out her tongue, but began to pack the guns into her backpack more quickly.

"Oh yeah, really mature," Zane said. He rolled her eyes then continued packing the explosives with Jondy.

"I love this stuff," Jondy said. "This place is like my dream home," she joked.

Faith was finishing stocking up knives when she heard voices.

"Crap, someone's coming. Hurry up and let's go," she whispered.

The other three quickly threw the last of the weapons into their backpacks when Syl noticed someone missing.

'Where the hell is Mole?' she signaled.

They all ran around the rooms looking for him when the door swung open. They froze as flashlights were beamed on them and 10 guards walked in. 3 of them were holding ice packs to their heads where the transgenics had punched them.

"There they are," one of them said.

"Hey," Jondy said, smiling flirtatiously. "You boys don't really want to use those ugly things, right?" she asked as they pulled out their guns. They aimed them at the four standing in the middle of the room.

Jondy dropped her smile. "Okay, so maybe you do want to use them."

All of a sudden Mole came crashing through the glass window of the proprietor's office, shooting wildly. Faith, Jondy, Zane and Syl all hit the floor, not wanting to find out if Mole had good aim. A few seconds later, he dropped to the ground in front of them and they stood up, finding all the guards dead.

"Where the hell were you?" Faith demanded. "We almost got our asses shot off because of you!"

"Easy toots," Mole said. He grinned and held up a cigar. "Looks like the owner of this place likes Cuban cigars. Figure I'd help myself to some." He opened his backpack to show dozens of cigars.

The looks on the four X5s' faces were priceless.

"We were almost killed because of your cigar obsession?" Zane asked incredulously.

"It's not an obsession," Mole said defensively. He grinned again. "It's a liking of cigars."

They all rolled their eyes and got out of there.

* * *

The Gems scoured the tunnels of T.C.

"It's disgusting down here!" Ruby screamed. "I'm never going to get this gunk out of my hair!"

"Calm down Rube" Aqua said, although she was just as unhappy with the situation as Ruby was.

"Max is just making us do this to get back at us for making her kiss Zack," Ruby muttered angrily.

"If anything she should be thanking us," Crystal said. "It's obvious she liked it."

Emerald and Coco chuckled.

"I see a whole lot of matchmaking in the future for them," Coco said mischievously.

"Let's call it revenge and I'm open to the idea," Emerald said, grinning wickedly.

"Deal," they all said.

"Guys, wait," Aqua said. She turned to the wall beside her, and with a disgusted face, put her hands on it.

Crystal scrunched up her face. "Your hands are never going to stop stinking now."

Aqua ignored her and moved her hands all over the wall, obviously searching for something. She stopped and smiled.

"Bingo."

She pushed and a door swung open. They all stepped into a room that was filled with the most luxurious thingsthey had ever seen.

"Holy crap," Emerald said.

* * *

Isabel and Michael were waving their hands, making a bunch of bricks and other garbage rise into the air and fly outside where they were dumping the crap into a nearby river. Isabel was talking to Liz though and not focusing so Jesse and Maxwell had to duck quickly when a bunch of debris came flying at him.

"Isabel, do you mind focusing a little more on where you're sending that stuff," Max asked. She blushed.

"Sorry."

Jesse came up to her and gave her a kiss. "My shift for cleaning up is done. How much longer are you here?"

"Someone should be coming in to replace me and Michael anytime now," she replied. Just then, Spike and Buffy walked in.

"You can go," Buffy told them.

Michael nodded his thanks and Isabel and Jesse went off somewhere. Michael cleared his throat.

"Um, do any of you happen to know where Willow is?" he asked.

Spike grinned. "She's out in the garden, mate."

"Thanks," he said, and then he hurried off.

"Whoa, they weren't kidding when they said Christmas means love is in the air," Liz said. "How many people hooked up?"

Buffy shrugged. "I don't know. But you'll never know what will happen on New Years. New Years equals new romances, new resolutions, and of course, new battles."

"That sounded good until the battle part," Maxwell said. He laughed bitterly. "Guess we can never get rid of those, huh?"

"Well, at least it gives us a good reason to kick ass," Liz said. She grinned. "Sorry, my kind just always needs action."

Maxwell kissed her forehead then told her that he had to relieve the X4s working in med bay.

"Meet me in 3 hours?" he asked her. She nodded then started to get back to work.

* * *

Dawn looked everywhere for Zero but couldn't find him so she went to the place where she had first met him and sat down on a bench.

"Great," she mumbled with her elbows on her knees and her face in her hands. "I finally find a great guy then he completely disappears and I have no clue where he is. Can my life suck any harder?"

"You look glum," someone said and she recognized the voice.

'Speak of the devil,' she thought. She turned and saw Zero emerge from the shadows.

"Where have you been?" she asked.

"I had to go on a little mission to get some stuff," Zero said.

"Oh," Dawn said. She waited for him to sit down beside her.

"So…" Zero said. "Do you miss your old life?"

Dawn shrugged. "Not really anything to miss. I mean sure I had friends but no one really close. It's just been Buffy and the crew for a long time. My parents are dead," she said softly.

Zero's eyes widened and he wrapped an arm around her.

"Sorry," he said. "I didn't know."

"Nah, it's okay, it doesn't bother me to talk about it anymore," she said.

"If it's alright, can you tell me what it's like to have parents?" he asked.

Dawn suddenly felt shame course through her. Here she was, feeling sorry for herself that she didn't have her parents anymore, when Zero never had parents in the first place and didn't even have real family like she did.

"It was great. I mean, like every kid, I thought they were annoying for awhile, not letting me have any space to breathe. But when I lost them, I finally understood that I took them for granted. It's just their way of letting you know that they love you, by smothering you and not letting you do your own thing. Parents take care of you, hold you when you cry, cheer you up when they can," she explained. "Sure, not all parents are like that but most are."

Zero nodded. "Sounds nice."

Dawn nodded too, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. "Yeah. It was."

* * *

A/N: Hope you liked this! Please review everyone and show me some love. I need to know you guys are still enjoying this. It only takes a second so please review, it makes my day. :)

Thanks ever so much to –

Tarzo – Thanks for reviewing!

Doza – Thanks for reviewing! I made this chapter especially long just for you. Hope you like it!

meri24 – Thanks for reviewing! If you want some sparring between Faith and Alec, then I'll give it to you. LOL I love pleasing my reviewers. It's great to have a new reviewer!

longbca – Thanks for reviewing!

Plz review everyone! It only takes a second and it makes my day. For those who haven't already, plz check out my other fic, "Whose Love?" It's good, I promise. Thanks everyone and review! (electronic kisses)


	14. The Meaning of All Little Things

A/N: Are you guys still enjoying this? I hope so. Plz review everyone. 5 reviews to get me to update. (Looks around evasively and whistles, pretending it's not blackmail.) LOL Just kidding guys. But I really would appreciate it if you'd review.

* * *

Logan sat in his room, looking proudly at the records of problems Eyes Only had accomplished to fix. Eyes Only had done the world so much good, people really loved him. Logan closed his eyes and sighed, imagining himself in a skin tight suit with a cape and standing on top of a building, with Max looking as beautiful as she always did standing beside him as his sidekick, the crowd below chanting his name. _Logan, Logan, Logan…_

"Well hello there Logan," someone said. "Looks like you're having a bit of a moment there."

Logan's eyes snapped open and jerked with surprise, the action causing his chair to tip back. He crashed to the floor and landed in an undignified heap at the bottom of someone's feet. He looked up and had to stifle a groan as he saw Spike's grinning face staring down at him.

"Well, it's so nice that you feel the need to bow in my presence," Spike said. "Although it's not required, it does add a nice touch. It takes a point off of your save-the-world-wannabee-egotistical-moronic-stupid-self-righteous-annoying self."

Logan glared at him then pushed himself off the floor. "What do you want Spike?"

Spike walked over to his couch and relaxed comfortably. "Well, I was bored and Buffy's busy, so I figured I'd visit my good 'ol pal Logan. We get along so well, I love spending time with you," he said with a smirk.

'I'm surrounded by a bunch of psychopaths,' Logan thought. 'Zack, Spike, Mole…'

"I'm sort of busy Spike," Logan said.

Spike grinned. "So I saw."

"Could you kind of… go?" Logan asked. He couldn't keep the impatience out of his voice.

Spike stood up. "Well, I hope to see you around soon, mate." He walked out of the room happily. Logan did a good job of lifting his spirits. He was fun to torment. Spike walked slowly to his room, thinking about other fun ways to terrify Logan.

* * *

Faith sat in the common room, looking out the window at the pouring rain. All her brothers and sisters loved being in high places and watching the rain, although they hated actually being _in_ it because of their feline DNA.

Faith had her hand up against the glass, listening to the steady drum of the soft pitter patter of the rain. The sky was dark, and Faith felt a sense of foreboding.

"Seattle sucks, doesn't it? All we get is rain, rain, rain," Alec said, coming to sit down beside her.

Faith just shrugged.

Alec looked at her with a concerned expression on her face.

"Hey. Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine. I just get the sense that something's going to happen. Not anytime soon, mind you, but when it does come, it's gonna be big."

She stayed quiet after that and Alec didn't break the silence, feeling that it was needed.

* * *

Max emerged from her bathroom, her hair soaking wet and her teeth chattering. She had just taken a very long, _cold_, shower. Right now Zack and his perfect body was the farthest thing from her mind. She needed to put on her clothes and get warm first.

She discarded her towel and dressed quickly, putting on her clothes before she went to bed so that if there was an emergency she could zoom right out of there, and then she slipped under her covers, intending to have a nice long nap. She stretched as she yawned, her back arching, her feline DNA showing through a little more. Then she closed her eyes…

And heard a knock.

Frustrated, she let out an irritated yell, and flung the door open. As soon as she saw who it was though, her anger dissolved into nervousness. For outside her door stood a very hot-looking, Zack.

She could smell him. It was a scent of leather, spice and man.

'Crap, I need another cold shower. Now.'

She tried her best to act casual, but it wasn't working.

"Is this a bad time?" he asked.

"Uh, no it's okay," she said. "Come in."

She opened the door and he walked in, sitting on her bed. She stared at him.

'Zack. Zack on my bed. Zack's on _my_ bed. Oh fuck, no. Can't get dirty, bad thoughts.'

She averted her gaze. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"The Gems have found a secret opening in one of the tunnels under T.C.," Zack explained. "It's pretty lavish by how they described it. Fur rugs, chandeliers, marble tables… not something you'd find in a place like this."

"So someone's hiding out there or using it for something," Max said, suddenly right down to business. "We need to post a camera there, hide it somewhere. I don't want to risk putting actual transgenics on guard because if these people are Familiars or someone equally strong, they could be killed. At least with hiding a camera, we can monitor who's using that place and their comings and goings."

"Already done that," Zack said. "I thought exactly what you did so I sent a team to carefully hide a few cameras there."

She smiled at him. "Thanks." Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment, but she forced them open again.

He looked at her with worry. "You look tired Maxie. You should get some rest. Especially with all that's gone on recently."

She shook her head. "I'm fine."

"No way," he said sternly. He stood up, took her arm and made her lie down on the bed. "You are going to get some sleep, even if I have to knock you out to get it. Shark DNA or not, you need to rest like everyone else."

Max was already halfway asleep, the soft pillow making her feel lightheaded. Satisfied that she wasn't going to try to work, Zack started to leave.

"No, don't leave me," she mumbled. "Stay here with me. Like you used to."

Zack froze and he looked back at her. He was surprised by her request, but also pleased that she had asked him to. He looked at Max, at the door, then back at Max again. He bit his lip. If he lay down with her, he might not be able to stop himself from doing something not so brotherly, like kissing her or something. If he left though, he'd be refusing her request and besides, it's not like he didn't want to.

He walked over to her bed, and motioned for her to move over. He slipped under the covers beside her and pulled her to him. She fell asleep instantly, safe like she was all those years ago, in his arms.

* * *

Michael found Willow in the garden, studying a flower. A yellow carnation.

"I'm surprised they even have flowers that are alive here in a toxic waste dump," Michael said. "What are you doing?"

"Looking at the flower," Willow said. "It's got so much to live for, yet at the same time nothing at all."

Michael looked at her with a bemused expression. "Care to elaborate?"

She looked at him. "The flower's life seems simple. It just has to look pretty. But it's not that easy. The flower is in a toxic waste dump, and for a long time it hasn't been cared for. But finally someone comes along and the simple flower can make someone feel so good, happy inside. Just a small, little flower. Maybe it reminds them of something, I don't know."

"I still don't get your point," Michael said.

"I'm saying that life's not so easy. Sometimes we feel like giving up, but we shouldn't, because we could be doing something good. I mean, sometimes we feel like we would be better off dead, but on the off chance that we make someone happy, then we shouldn't. The flower makes that person happy, so it should keep on living. That's what we have t do, no matter what. Keep on living and fighting," Willow said.

Michael was blown away. "Whoa. That's deep. But a good analogy. Where did this come from?"

Willow looked at the sky, where the rain was letting up. "All the wars, the fights. All the pain and love. It's life. I feel like something big is coming, but we can't give up. We just have to keep on fighting."

* * *

A/N: I hope you liked this. Don't ask me where the whole flower thing came from. It's completely random, and it came to me as I was typing this, but I think that somehow it fits. Let me know what you think.

Humongous thanks to –

meri24 – I don't know if Willow is gay in the show or not, but she's not in this fic. (Looks from side to side then whispers, "Can you keep a secret? I've rarely watched any BTVS so I don't know much about the show.") LOL I know a little bit, but not too much on the characters' personalities. I'd really appreciate it if you could help me out if you have the time. Anyways, thanks for reviewing!

shygirl1 – I'll make Logan's reaction good when Max and Zack get together. But they won't for at least another few chapters. I sort of want to build the relationship with them, let them flirt or whatever for awhile. But don't worry, they'll get together soon. I can't let Max stay with that leech for long, it's killing me. :) Thanks for reviewing!

Doza – I hope you liked the Spike/Logan interaction. I tried to make it funny for you. Thanks for the advice on the chapters.

Kelly – It's great to have a new reviewer!

HoneyX5-452 – The biggest amount of thanks to you. You updated so many times, it just made me happy. :) Thanks so so so so much.

Please review everyone! I'll update when I have 5 reviews. :)


	15. Chaos On Both Sides

A/N: Thanks to all the wonderful people who reviewed. Please keep doing so; it encourages me to write more. 5 reviews to update.

* * *

White had to duck as one of his fellow Familiars, Betty, came flying right at his head. He put his hand to his forehead and shook his head when he saw what was happening.

Familiars and vampires alike were flying around the room because of the aliens, other Familiars were fighting the vampires and aliens, and the vampires were trying to suck on the aliens' and Familiars' necks. It was total and utter chaos. Chairs were broken, other miscellaneous objects were either floating in the air, being flung at people, or lying on the ground being trampled on, and some blood was on the floor.

White took a deep breath, and then opened his mouth wide. "STOP!"

Everyone in the room froze immediately and you could barely hear anyone breathing. In the vampires' cases, you couldn't hear any breathing because they didn't breathe.

White forced himself to be calm. "Will someone tell me what the fuck is going on here?"

A stupid vampire spoke up. "Well, the annoying Familiars wouldn't stop going on about how they're pure-blood, yadaydayda, and the aliens were bored so they started flinging people around for fun."

White rolled his eyes as Hilda, Boont, Jaquen and Vlad came up behind him. They evaluated the mess and the leaders faced their own kind.

"What the hell has gone on here?" Hilda screeched.

"You idiots! What have you done?" Vlad yelled.

White however did not yell at the Familiars. He himself did not like the vampires or the aliens, but he just put up with them because of the alliance. 'We'll just use them to get rid of the transgenics and 452, and then we'll get rid of them too,' White thought.

The supernatural leaders stopped yelling at their groups when they realized White wasn't reprimanding his.

"Your Familiars are at fault too, you know," Hilda said angrily.

White faced his group. "What you did was bad. Now go."

Boont's eyes widened in incredulity. "That's it? You sound like a mother letting her naughty children get away with whatever they want."

Everyone sniggered but then they stopped and each individual group glared at each other. White massaged his temple. They were going to have to work things out between them, and fast.

* * *

Logan walked through the halls of T.C., not really knowing where he was going but just letting his feet lead the way. He was still caught up in his daydream from before.

_Screams were heard through the city as a burning building was quickly falling apart._

"_Logan!" the crowds were screaming. "Save the people trapped inside! Save them!"_

_Logan dutifully saluted them. "Don't worry, citizens of Seattle. I'll save them."_

_He then jumped off a building, intending to fly towards the burning building and crashing through the window, but he felt himself fall._

"_Damn!" he cursed as he fell towards the crowds._

_But of course his wonderful sidekick, Max, swooped in under him and helped him fly to the burning building. He crashed through the window and saved all the people inside._

"_Logan!" the crowd chanted again. "You saved them. Logan! Logan! Logan!"_

"Logan!" Alec said for the third time. "Watch out! You're going to crash into a wa – " He chuckled as Logan walked straight into a wall. "Never mind."

Logan blinked and once again fell on his ass. This time however, he was at the feet of Alec.

"Oh, so he feels the need to bow in your presence too, Alec?" a familiar voice said.

Logan groaned. As if his day wasn't bad enough. In a split second, the grinning vampire was in his face.

"Lemme help ya up mate," Spike said, offering a hand. Logan took it only because he didn't want to know what Spike would say if he didn't. He stood up and quickly let go of Spike's hand.

Buffy walked up to the three. "Hey guys," she said cautiously, noticing the frightened look on Logan's face and the happy ones on Alec's and Spike's. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No, Logan here was just trying to mate with the wall," Spike said.

Logan's face reddened furiously. "Um, gotta go," he mumbled, then quickly sped off.

Buffy looked at the two remaining men then put on a grin that matched their own. "There's just something off about that one, hmm?"

Alec nodded. "That boy gets stranger every day. I have no idea what Max sees in him."

Buffy smirked. "Maybe I should get Dawn to whip up a portal and send Logie-boy over there to some unheard land full of stuffed animals."

Spike's grin widened. "Evil stuffed animals." He got a twinkle in his eye when he thought of all the possible places he could get Dawn to send Logan.

Buffy looked at him worriedly. "You know, Logan's freakiness is starting to rub off on you. I think you need a cure."

Spike suddenly became very attentive. "Does it involve you getting naked?"

Alec's mouth formed an o shape. "I think I'll be leaving now." He ran off, and Buffy smiled slyly at Spike, leading him to their room.

* * *

"Stupid freaks," Logan muttered. He looked up, suddenly finding himself outside Max's room. 'Maybe I can spend some time with her,' he thought. He pushed the door open when he found it unlocked. He stilled, not believing his eyes.

Max lay with Zack under the sheets, her head resting on his bare chest. They were sound asleep, looking quite peaceful.

Logan's face became purple. "What the hell are you doing?"

* * *

Xander and Emerald sat in a little café in downtown Seattle, sharing things about what they had been doing in the past. Emerald was a little more secretive and guarded with her past, but Xander understood that. He had grown up with a fairly normal childhood, while she had been tortured and trained to become a killing machine. Big difference.

"If it's too hard talking about Manticore, then that's alright," Xander said.

She smiled at him. "No, it's fine. It's actually nice talking to someone about it. Makes me feel better to finally get it out." She looked off into space reflectively. "You know, in a way I'm grateful to Manticore. They brought my family and me together, something that I wouldn't trade for the world. And some things they taught me are actually useful, so I guess it wasn't all bad."

Xander nodded. "Hey, Emerald?" he asked, tentatively.

"Yeah?" she said.

"Do you think…? I mean, do you ever think that two people who are completely different could work out?" he asked.

"I don't know," she responded. "I guess it depends on how much work those people are willing to put into it. I think you can make anything happen if you try hard enough."

Xander nodded, storing this information in his brain. "We better head back. It's not safe for you to be out here in the open for so long with all the people hunting you."

"Thanks," she said. "You're sweet."

They smiled at each other then left, heading back to Terminal City.

* * *

"Max!" Logan screamed. "What are you doing? You lied to me! You said nothing was going on between you and Zack!"

"There isn't!" Max protested, ignoring that twinge of guilt lying in the pit of her stomach. She quickly got up, pulled Logan into the room, and shut the door so that no one could hear what they were saying.

Zack sighed and reached for the sweater that he had discarded when they were sleeping because he had started to feel hot. He pulled it over his head then sat there, listening to Max's and Logan's heated argument.

"I asked you if something was going on!" Logan yelled.

"And I told you the truth!" Max yelled right back. "I was tired and Zack just fell asleep beside me. That's it Logan! We didn't do anything. There's nothing between me and him."

A wave of hurt washed over Zack but he stayed silent.

"Well, you two sure looked cozy!" Logan wouldn't stop screaming and it was getting on Max's nerves. She couldn't take it anymore so she took Logan's arm and threw him out. "We're over," was all she said before slamming the door in Logan's bewildered face.

She sighed deeply then made her way back over to the bed and snuggled into Zack.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I shouldn't have brought you into this mess."

"By loving you I'm already in it," he said back, just as quietly.

He felt her body tense as soon as he had said the words but still stayed where he was until she looked up at him.

"What do you want from me?" she asked him.

He smiled softly. She had been expecting him to want something from her because all her life that's what people did. They always wanted something from her.

"Just you, Maxie," he stated simply. "I want you."

Max felt her cheeks grow warm and she fiddled with his sweater. Finally she looked up, and their lips fused together again forthe second time in a hot, passionate kiss.

* * *

A/N: Dun dun dun. I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't too good, I wasn't entirely pleased with it but you let me know what you think. I hope you liked it. Please review everyone!

Enormous thanks to –

longbca – Thanks for reviewing!

Kelly – Thanks for reviewing!

meri24 – Thanks for reviewing!

screaminheathen69 – Thank you so much for the info on BTVS and for reviewing!

Doza – Thanks for reviewing! And as for your question, I write one chapter at a time then I post it. I don't write a whole story at once.

shygirl1 – Thanks for reviewing! Please update your story soon!

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I'm thrilled that people like this story. Please keep reviewing everyone! It takes 5 reviews to get me to update!

Oh, and for everyone who hasn't yet already read "Whose Love?" please do so. It's also MZ. And you also might like to check out "Sleeping Maxie" and "Maxerella" Fairy tales versions of DA. Remember, 5 reviews to update!


	16. Relationships Springing Up Like Flowers

A/N: You guys gave me the happiest day! I was thrilled when I saw all the reviews I got. Thank you so much and please keep reviewing everyone! 5 reviews to get me to update.

* * *

Max was tugging at the bottom of Zack's sweater when he abruptly stopped her. Their breathing was laboured and he rested his forehead against hers. She leaned forward to kiss his Adam's apple but pulled back in confusion when he wasn't responding.

"Zack?" she asked him, hurt and confusion written in her eyes.

"I just, I just don't want," he started, and closed his eyes in an effort to calm himself and to slow down his heart which was currently beating so fast it was like it was running a marathon.

A feeling of uncertainty fluttered around in Max's stomach. She had thought she had been so sure of his feelings for her, but what if she was wrong?

"Don't want what Zack?" she asked him, trying not to let the fear of being hurt seep into her facial expression, but knowing the attempt was futile. "Don't want what? You don't want this? Us? Me?" The last part was almost in a whisper, almost a prayer that it wasn't so.

Zack's eyes snapped open and he shook his head fervently. "No, that's not it. Not at all Maxie." He took her hands in his. "Of all the things I could possibly be sure about, or certain about, is how I feel about you. I love you more than anything Maxie. Nothing ever can or will change that. That's not what I meant."

Her eyes widened. "You love me?"

Zack had to resist the urge to laugh. "I thought I made that pretty clear when I took a bullet in the head last year. And when I tried to separate you and Logan."

She touched his face. "I don't love Logan. At least not anymore. Maybe I have once but right now I'm not sure how I could have ever felt anything for him. I love you, I always have. When I thought you were dead, a part of me went with you. And I'll never forgive myself for choosing Logan over you."

He returned the gesture and held her cheek in his hands, rubbing it with his thumb. "No, you did the right thing. I would have killed Logan. Anyone who would have gotten in the way of me getting to you. I'm sorry for that."

"What did you mean then?" she asked, going back to their earlier topic.

"I just meant that I don't want to rush things. I don't want to just fuck you and have it mean nothing, Maxie. You're special to me. I want it to be right, to have a relationship with you. Not just a one time thing."

"It'll never be that way between us," Max said. "You'll never be a one night stand to me. But I know what you mean. And you're right. We'll take things slow."

Zack smiled which was rare considering who he was and kissed her softly. She smiled back then got up to get some papers she needed to work on for T.C., purposely adding an extra sway in her walk, Zack watching her every move. He bit his lip, trying to make his conscience and his brain win the battle with his instinct and a certain part of his anatomy. Nevertheless, the latter won. His breath came out in a low hiss, trying to stop the next part from coming out.

"You know, I can't do this," he said. "Screw what I said before and come here."

Max put down the papers, and grinning, made her way to the bed where she pushed him down for a kiss.

* * *

Logan had gone back to his room; after all a door wasn't very much company. He sat in his computer chair seething, his fists balled up tightly. He clenched his teeth and his body was shaking in anger.

'How could that snake have wormed his way into her heart so easily?' he thought furiously. 'What does he have that I don't? I just don't see it! I don't!'

Fuming, Logan started opening and closing his drawers, searching for something. When he finally found it, an evil grin started to spread on his face.

He stared at it for a moment. 'At least I have something over him.' He leaned forward to put the file back in his cabinet when something that had stuck to the back of the folder fell out. He picked it up and a young man's roguish face stared back at him. 'Seth. Oh well. He was probably going to die anyways since he was so reckless,' he thought callously.

He shoved both the picture and the file back into his cabinet and shut it tightly. Suddenly he was feeling a whole lot better.

* * *

Faith's head shot up quickly. She looked around, her eyes scrutinizing every inch of the garden she was sitting in. She saw nothing move but her slayer sense told her to look closer. Finally she felt an odd sensation at the back of her neck, like someone was watching her. She whipped around before the person could react and held him in a chokehold. As soon as she saw who it was, she grinned.

"Well, if it isn't one of my vampy friends," she remarked. She inspected the quivering form in front of her. He obviously wasn't one of the more vicious vampires. He shook with fear as he knew that she was one of the powerful slayers, and his sharp teeth stuck out in overbite making him look like a rabbit.

"Come to be my punching bag today?" she asked him. "How considerate of you. A real, live, though I can't say breathing punching bag at my disposal instead of a man-made, stuffed one. Must be my lucky day."

The vampire said nothing.

Faith shrugged. "Okeedokee. Not like I need my punching bag to be talking."

She grinned then dragged him off inside T.C.

* * *

Liz sat in the air above her bed, her legs crossed and her eyes closed. She was trying to get in psyche with the few alienic powers she possessed.

"I see you've been practicing," Maxwell said as he stepped inside her room.

She floated slowly onto her bed. "Well I figured, if we've got a war going on, the more people who can make things fly around, the better."

"Speaking of wars, any action on this White guy's part?" he asked her, sitting beside her on her bed.

She shook her head. "Not exactly. We've got cams on that secret room in one of the tunnels underneath T.C. though. We think White's up to something since he hasn't really done anything since the whole Christmas incident. But since tomorrow's New Years, we're keeping an extra eye out to make sure he doesn't screw this up too."

Max nodded. "And I thought that the alien's after us were bad. This White guy sounds really horrible from what I've heard. Plus, the whole Christmas scene."

Liz looked down. "I'm just happy that Max made it through alright. Out of all of us, Maxie's always been the one everyone worries about the most. Sure, she's better than most to us. Hell, she's Zack's second. But still, she's always been the most emotional; the most normal… you know what I mean? She's still the baby, and I don't know what any of us would do if we lost her. Zack, Krit, and Jondy especially, since they're closest to her."

Max grinned. "From what I've learned about your family, is that no one messes with you guys and that you're tough. All of you are strong. You guys just gotta beat this thing with White, and you've got all us extras to help you."

"Yeah," Liz said. She looked at him. "Thanks. You know, for being so supportive and everything. All of you. Iz, Michael, Maria and Jesse. You've all been so accepting."

Max put an arm around her. "Yeah well, it's not hard to be supportive about weird things. I mean, you're talking to an alien for god's sakes."

That got them both laughing.

* * *

Sketchy and Maria sat at Crash, both drinking a beer and talking about all that had happened in the past with their transgenic/supernatural friends. They laughed a lot and Sketchy felt a new feeling grow inside him. He really liked Maria, but it felt different. This wasn't a game where he tried to pick up as many girls as possible. It wasn't a game where he bet someone that he could get into her pants. It was a genuinely nice feeling, like Maria was a genuinely nice girl. He actually enjoyed talking to her, which surprised him. Sketchy didn't know what this feeling meant, but he liked it.

Maria was experiencing the same feelings. She really liked Sketchy; she just wasn't sure what would happen. She had heard several rumours about him, about how he tried to hit on every girl he saw. She just hoped that she wasn't just some challenge he had to overcome.

She spied two African people walking over to them, grinning broadly.

"Hey wigger. Who's ya boo?" the girl asked.

Maria had seen the girl around T.C. sometimes, but she had never really talked to her. She remembered something about her being Max's best friend. The man though, she had never seen.

"Original Cindy, Herbal, this is Maria. Maria, Original Cindy and Herbal," Sketchy introduced.

"Ya can call me O.C.," she said, looking at Maria in a way that sort of made her feel uncomfortable.

"O.C., I don't think she swing dat way," Herbal said.

"Damn," Cindy said, but the interested look was gone and Maria felt slightly more comfortable.

"Like de prophet said, only de righteous sistas will find der honey," Herbal spouted off.

Cindy looked at him. "First of all, I am righteous. Second, the prophet so did not say that."

Herbal grinned. "Only kidding ja."

Maria watched the two interact with a puzzled expression on her face. She tried hard to understand what they were saying, but finally gave up.

O.C. saw and smirked. "Don't fret boo. I know it's hard to learn our lingo. You'll pick it up soon enough. Believe me, our boss Normal's an idiot, and even he came to understand it after a while. You look way smarter than that foo, so it won't be long."

Maria frowned for a minute then said, "coo."

"Give me 5 girl!" O.C. shouted, high fiving her. "You already learning our dealio."

"Yeah, you learning our dealio," Sketchy said, trying to imitate Cindy's accent.

Cindy looked at him with an amused expression on her face. She rolled her eyes and slapped him upside the head.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for taking so long to get this out. I hope you liked it!

Much thanks to –

meri24 – Thanks!

shygirl1 – Thanks!

Kelly – Thanks!

screaminheathen69 – Thanks!

Tarzo – Thanks!

longbca – Thanks!

HoneyX5-452 – Thanks!

Cora – Thanks!

Please review everyone! It takes 5 reviews to get me to update!


	17. MIA

A/N: Hey guys. Another chap from lil ol' me. Hope you like it and plz review. I really would appreciate your feedback and any ideas you might have for this fic. 5 reviews to get me to update!

* * *

Max and Zack lay together in bed, snuggled up in the sheets. Zack was absentmindedly toying with Max's hair and she had her face pressed up against the crook of his neck with her eyes closed. They didn't say anything, just lay in a comfortable silence until Max looked at him with a teasing smile on her face.

"I thought you wanted to take things slow?" she said, her eyes glinting mischievously.

Zack shrugged and grinned at her. "Yeah well, I guess ordinaries and transgenics have a different definition of slow."

She laughed and kissed him. "You're telling me. Now we'll have to make a new dictionary for transgenic definitions on everything."

Zack smiled and pulled her closer. "Yeah," he said again, but he sounded a little out of space.

She wrapped her arms around his neck. "You okay?"

He nodded. "I'm fine. Better than fine actually. I've just waited for this for a long time and now that it's finally happening it's a little surreal."

"I know what you mean," Max said thoughtfully. "All our lives, every time we'd get something that makes us even remotely happy, it got taken away from us. I guess now we're just afraid that we're going to lose whatever makes us happy right after we get it. We're always thinking that we're running out of time."

He kissed her and looked her in the eye. "You're not going to lose me and I'll be damned if I let anyone take you away from me."

The possessive look in his eyes scared her a little but also on some level satisfied the primitive part of her. She liked being claimed as belonging to someone so she rubbed her cheek against his in a feral gesture.

"I know," she said simply.

There was a knock at the door but without waiting for a response Ruby, Emerald and Aqua barged in in true X5 style. They sort of gave a strangled laugh or choke when they saw who Max was laying in bed with and rushed out the door again when they saw the death glare Max threw at them.

"We need to talk to you whenever you're ready about some stuff. Oh, and happy belated New Years to you guys!" Ruby called over her shoulder, giggling as she slammed the door shut again.

Max groaned and cursed under her breath. "Don't I get some kind of privacy here?" she whined. "I seriously need to put up a death threat sign on my door."

Zack grinned at her and pulled her out of bed with a yelp.

"It's freezing Zack!" she shrieked.

He looked at her with an amused look as Max never shrieked. She yelled and screamed, sure, but hearing her whine and shriek was so unlike Max that he couldn't help laughing.

"Here, put some clothes on," he said as he tossed some towards her. She caught them with ease and pouted.

"You know, you're an ass when you're not in bed," she said.

He rolled his eyes and as soon as they finished dressing, he pulled her out the door to go to HQ.

* * *

Dawn and Zero walked through the streets of Seattle, holding hands and talking amicably. They stopped from time to time to go into a shop or something, but they mostly enjoyed one of Seattle's rare sunny days.

"It's so nice out," Dawn remarked as she looked up at the cloudless sky.

"For now," Zero said. "I wouldn't be surprised if it started raining soon."

She laughed and looked at him with a teasing grin. "Aren't you just the cynic?"

He shrugged. "Not really. Just being realistic. Back at Manticore there wasn't really anything to be optimistic about so I guess that's why all of us transgenics are sort of cynical and sarcastic. The day you find a bouncy, always cheerful transgenic will be the day I'm named mayor of this forlorn city."

Her smile faltered a bit in sympathy for all the transgenics when she was reminded of their horrible upbringing. She couldn't imagine herself lasting a second in their shoes, or in their case, military boots.

Zero noticed her silence and guessed what she was thinking but didn't say anything. They kept walking in a fairly comfortable silence when Dawn felt a weird prickle at the back of her neck. She looked at Zero and by the way his eyes were closed and had a concentrated look on his face, she figured he had felt it too.

"I feel something, but it's not the normal feeling of someone watching us," Zero murmured under his breath. "There's some kind of forceful pull."

"It's the same feeling I get when a vamp is nearby," Dawn whispered to him. "Look around for someone hideously ugly."

Zero chuckled despite the serious circumstances and looked around. "How 'bout there? Tall, dark, greasy and brooding at 5 o'clock."

Dawn shifted her eyes to the man he was talking about but shook her head. "No, that's just one of God's unfortunate mistakes. Keep looking."

Suddenly both Dawn and Zero whirled around, feeling someone behind them. The last thing they heard was, "One of the slayers has my friend," before sinking into unconsciousness.

* * *

Buffy shot up in bed, startling Spike. He wasn't sleeping since vampires didn't exactly need to sleep, but the sudden movement surprised him.

Buffy got out and started shuffling through her drawers, finally pulling some jeans and a pink tank top on quickly.

"Where's the fire, luv?" Spike asked.

"I need to find Dawn," she said hurriedly as she walked to the door and flung it open. "I just got this weird feeling that something's wrong with her."

Spike got up as well and dressed in a nanosecond, and then he and Buffy ran out the door.

* * *

Faith grunted as she punched the vampire tied to a wall repeatedly, making sure that she didn't hit him so hard that his head would fly off and he'd disappear into dust. After all, she wanted a lasting punching bag not one that disintegrated after a hit that was too forceful.

The vampire looked cross-eyed and his face was contorted in pain, but he made no sound. Out of courtesy before punching him, Faith had asked his name but he hadn't responded. So she shrugged and went ahead with her workout, not really caring about pleasantries.

After a few more minutes, she sighed with content and wiped the sweat off her forehead. She patted the vampire's cheek. "Thanks a lot," she said, and sat down for a moment on one of the tattered couches.

She looked up and saw Buffy and Spike run in. Buffy looked at the pained-looking vampire, at Faith, then back at the vampire. She looked at Faith weirdly and Faith shrugged. "I was bored," she said. "So what's up?"

"Have you seen Dawn?" Buffy asked. "I just got this strange feeling that she's in trouble."

Faith grinned. "No, I haven't seen her recently, but I've noticed that she's been spending a hell of a lot of time with one of the cute transgenic boys."

Spike rolled his eyes. "Great, now we're chasing after two hormonal teenagers."

* * *

Jondy, Zane, Coco, Crystal, Tawny, Willow, Emerald, Xander and Michael (Roswell) all sat around a table, staring intently at the cards in their hands. Crystal sighed and put down her cards.

"This is boring as hell guys," she said. "Besides, I'm folding."

"Me too," Zane echoed.

"Ditto here," Tawny said.

Jondy was silent a moment then her eyes sparkled with something that scared Zane.

"Dee, what are you thinking?" he asked hesitantly. Jondy had always been… creative when it came to livening things up a little.

"Well, poker like this sucks, so... I was thinking… who wants to play strip poker?" she asked, grinning.

Willow, Coco, Crystal and Emerald looked tentative but the guys were all for it.

"What the hell," Coco said. "I'm all for it."

"This should be interesting," Willow said.

"Count me in," Crystal said.

"I'd hate to be the party pooper," Emerald said.

They all looked at each other somewhat nervously, and then started handing out the cards again.

"Let the games begin," Jondy announced wickedly.

* * *

Mole smoked one of the many cigars that he had stolen from the warehouse raid a few days ago and walked around HQ, waiting for their leader's arrival.

Dix waved the smoke away. "Mole, do you, uh, mind?" he asked. "You're sort of fogging up my glasses."

Mole moved away but didn't apologize and a moment later Max and Zack entered HQ.

"Are any of my sisters here?" Max asked with a pissed off look on her face.

"Whoa. Someone's bitchier than usual," Mole mumbled. "Need to get laid, princess?"

"I already did," Max said with an innocent smile on her face. Mole was so surprised at what she said that that his jaw fell open and his cigar fell onto the ground. She grinned wickedly and stepped on it. She looked at him. "We don't need any fires."

She did a forceful pirouette and looked around when she heard giggling. She tapped her foot and Ruby stepped out from a corner.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" she asked impatiently.

Ruby suddenly became all serious. "Never mind what I wanted to say before; it's not as important as what I've got to say now. You know how we have a sign in and sign out list at T.C.'s front gates for everyone who leaves?"

Max nodded. "Yeah. But no transgenic is supposed to leave T.C.'s grounds. Only those going on missions or raids or something like that are allowed to leave."

Ruby nodded as well. "Yeah, I know. But Bullet, Ralph, and Zero were supposed to go on a weapons raid today. Except Zero's missing and his name isn't on the sign out list. 5 other transgenics are missing as well. They're all the ones who volunteered to keep watch on that secret door in the tunnel when we decided that we should have some sentries there as well as the cameras. We checked the cameras and they're working fine so no one tampered with them, but that doesn't explain how 5 transgenics could disappear into thin air with the cameras picking something up."

Max closed her eyes and put a hand to her forehead. "Shit," she cursed.

Her eyes snapped open when Buffy ran into T.C. with Spike hot on her heels.

"I've checked everywhere and I can't find her," Buffy said.

"Who?" Zack asked.

"Dawn. She's missing."

* * *

A/N: Sorry guys if this chapter wasn't too good. I think it could've been better but let me know what you think. Please review and give me feedback. I would also love to hear your ideas for this story if you have any. 5 reviews to get me to update!

Thanks to –

screaminheathen69 – Thank you for reviewing!

meri24 – Thank you for reviewing! I couldn't cut Herbal out, he's just too… Herbal. LOL

shygirl1 – Thank you for reviewing!

longbca – Thank you for reviewing!

MoonAngel23 – Thank you for reviewing!


	18. The Weight Of The World

A/N: Okay, plz plz plz don't kill me for not updating sooner. I'm sorry. (Bends down and cowers, whimpering.) LOL Plz keep reviewing everyone and give me some feedback. I can't go on without you guys. I'd like to know, what you liked, didn't like, and want to see in the future. It really helps me develop the fic to your liking when I know your opinions on it. So plz review and tell me what you think. :) 5 reviews for me to update!

* * *

Dawn and Zero woke up around the same time, feeling someone poking them hard in the chest. Zero blinked and his eyes adjusted to the bright light immediately, although it took Dawn some time for her to fully snap hers open.

They both looked at the ugly face in front of them. Dawn scrunched up her nose.

"Whoa. Someone seriously needs to go to the dentist," she quipped, pointing to his sharp teeth. She sniffed the air and that weird look stayed on her face. "And get them to give you some mouthwash while you're at it."

"Silence," he said. "You are not to speak unless you are spoken to. And don't create trouble, or you'll be punished severely."

"Great," Zero muttered. "This sounds like Manticore all over again."

"Punished severely," Dawn said. She snorted in amusement. "Wow, you really got the whole villain act thingy down. Whatcha gonna do, sink your teeth into us?"

At the way the vamp licked his teeth, Dawn figured she'd do what he said to do and shut up.

"I'll be the one to ask the questions," he said.

"Why?" Zero asked. "We're the guests."

"Silence!" he yelled. He waited a moment so that he could calm down and then spoke.

"One of the slayers has my friend. The top priority is to get him back. Boont and Vlad would be very mad if they find out we've lost one of our men. You two are my bargaining chip to get my friend back," he explained.

Dawn raised an eyebrow. "Boont and Vlad?" she said. "Where do you guys get these names? They sound like cartoon characters."

"And what's your name?" Zero asked dryly.

"Mota," he said proudly.

Zero and Dawn looked at each other then burst out laughing.

"Mota?" Dawn said.

Mota looked offended. "Don't make fun of my name!" he yelled. "My mother named me that because I couldn't say mother and I'd say mota! Stop laughing."

"Mota," Dawn said. "Hey Zero, is there some kind of rule that bad guys have to have crummy-ass names?"

Mota raised an eyebrow. "His name is Zero, and still you make fun of _my_ name?"

"At least mine actually means something," Zero said.

Mota sensed that things were getting way off topic.

"Anyways," he said. "Like I said before, you are my bargaining chip."

Dawn shrugged. "Whatever. I mean, my Faith and my sister hardly care about a vampire. They'll trade us easily."

Mota grinned. "But we won't _really_ be giving you two to them."

"We?" Zero inquired.

"Hello there," White said, coming out from the shadows.

* * *

Spike knocked on Logan's door, grinning to himself despite the bad situation. He enjoyed scaring the living daylights out of him.

Logan lay on his bed, depressed about his life, but determined to find the cure. Then Max would love him again and leave Zack for him. And even if that plan didn't work, he still had one card left to play.

He thought about the picture that he had been looking at recently the past few days and smiled to himself.

_If anything, I still have at least that one wildcard left,_ he thought. _Then Max'll be mine._

He heard a knock on his door.

"Who is it?" he called.

Spike forced his British accent down and made his voice sort of muffled and soft.

"It's Krit," Spike said. "Can I talk to you about something?"

Logan frowned. Why the hell did Krit want to talk to him? He rather didn't mind this X5 male because he wasn't as aggressive towards him as the others.

_Maybe it's about Max!_ Logan thought. _This is great! What if Krit doesn't approve of Zack being with Max? Then I'll have Max's brother on my side!_

"Come in, it's open," he said.

Spike grinned and pushed the door open, Logan's face falling and turning pale when he saw who it really was.

"Thanks so much for inviting me in," Spike said, his voice normal again.

"What do you want?" Logan asked.

"Well, I figured you're actually useful for some things," Spike said, coming closer.

Logan had to try extremely hard to stifle the squeak that wanted to come out.

"Like…" he said, trailing off nervously.

_He wants to eat me, I know he does,_ Logan thought.

"Well, I want you to guess," Spike said. "It has something to do with hunting."

_So, he's going to hunt me down _then_ eat me,_ Logan thought. _I wonder if Zack put him up to this._

"I'll give you a clue," Spike said. "It has something to do with hunting down people."

Logan closed his eyes in prayer. _I knew it. He's gonna eat me._

Spike heard someone clearing their throat and turned to see Buffy in the doorway, her eyes laughing at what he was doing but also worried for Dawn and anxious to get going. Spike looked back at Logan and decided he would stop teasing him for Buffy's sake.

"Alright, here's the thing," Spike started but Logan cut him off.

"Okay, okay! Can you just make it quick? I don't want to die slowly. Oh, please don't eat me!"

Spike and Buffy looked at Logan with utter disbelief, shock, and hilarity. Silence permeated the room and Logan opened one eye.

"That's not what you were going to say, was it?" he said.

They just stared blankly at him until Spike shook his head and laughed.

"No, but that does give me weird ideas," he said. "Returning to our previous topic, we need your cyber skills to hunt down two hormonal teenagers. We need to find Dawn and Zero. Think your mind can handle that?"

Logan nodded. "I'll get right on it."

* * *

Tawny, Crystal and Emerald were very bad at poker so they lost their clothes quickly. They sat apart from the others, teeth chattering, legs brought up to their chests, and huddled up because they were as naked as the day they were born. Jondy was wearing only a red lacy bra and her underwear, Xander clad in only his boxers, Willow in a shirt and her underwear, and Zane without his shirt. They were a comical sight, all huddled up and shivering. There wasn't much heat in the room as the cold outside seeped in through the windows.

Coco and Michael were laughing at the rest of them, both almost fully clothed. Michael had lost only his sweater and Coco only her shirt.

"Okay," Xander said. "Either both of you have x-ray vision and can see our cards, or you're cheating, or you're just really, really good."

Coco grinned. "I used to have a thing for casinos. Practiced there a lot."

"Ditto for me," Michael said.

Zane looked at the door when he heard a creak, and in walked Liz, Maxwell, Ruby and Aqua.

Maxwell squeezed his eyes shut and walked right back out there door, but the three girls were laughing hysterically at what they saw.

7 glares were shot their way, but it still took several minutes for them to calm down. Liz looked at Jondy.

"What are you looking at me for?" she asked innocently.

"Oh, give it up Jond, we all know that you're the only one here who would come up with such ideas like strip poker," Ruby said.

Jondy threw her hands up. "All right, guilty as charged. But I was just making things a little more interesting."

"I'll say," Aqua said with a smirk as she looked over her three naked siblings, then the rest of them.

"Could, we, uh, get our clothes back on?" Tawny asked under their scrutinizing gazes.

"By all means," Maxwell said from the hall.

"Max called a meeting," Ruby said. "It's important. So get your asses to the control room, naked or not, in 10 minutes."

"Preferably not," Maxwell said from the hall again.

* * *

Max stood in the control room with her family, Mole, Logan, Dix, Luke, Joshua, Alec, the Roswell aliens and the slayers. She stood in the middle, issuing orders to everyone.

"Mole, Joshua, and Alec, once Logan finds out or gets an idea on where Dawn, Zero, and possibly the other missing transgenics are, you three will go do some recon. Actually, I think Buffy, Willow, Faith, Spike or Xander should go with you because they know how these vampires think," she said. "Oh actually, Faith? Go and interrogate that vampire you were playing punching bag with. Maybe he knows something."

They nodded and left, so she turned to the others.

"Dix and Luke, I want you two to find out how the hell we lost so many people in that tunnel underneath without the camera picking it up or being tampered with. And just in case something freaky deaky is going on and has something to do with supernatural forces, take either Max, Liz, Isabel or Michael with you."

They all nodded as well and left.

"Now I want the rest of you to split up into two groups. Half of you will be putting concrete over that door in the tunnel. We can't risk losing anymore people. The other half will get more weapons. Even if we're dealing with vampires, I get the feeling they're not working alone. I want all of you to be careful, especially those going down into the tunnel. Really strange, unexplainable things have been happening lately, so I want you all to be on your guards. Now, can someone send Maria, Sketchy, Original Cindy, Herbal and Jesse here? I have a job for them."

"Original Cindy's name is on the sign out list, as well as Maria's," Emerald spoke up. "I can go out and get them. I think they met the gang at Crash."

Max nodded and everyone except Zack left. She slumped a little. Being the leader left the weight of every transgenic's life on her shoulders, now the slayers and the Roswell gang as well, and it drained her.

"You're doing great," Zack said, wrapping his arms around her. "You're a natural leader, Maxie."

Max nodded absentmindedly, thinking about all that she had to go and accomplish now.

_Find out what the hell is going on between the explosions and the disappearances, the secret door in the tunnel, save everyone who needs to be saved, and stop an Apocalypse. All in a days work of being a Messiah. Being a leader sucks._

"You okay?" he asked her, turning her around.

"Yeah, just got a lot on my mind," she replied.

Zack grinned. "I'm proud of you. You've done a lot for our people."

She smiled. "Thanks."

"Plus," he said, "I love it when you're all commanding and in charge. Turns me on."

She laughed and hit him playfully on the shoulder. "Good to know, soldier. Come on, get to work. Can't have you slacking off even though you are my favourite."

He kissed her again then left to go on a few weapons raids with the others.

She replayed the list of things she had to do in her mind.

"And here Lady Jesus goes off to save humanity so that the prejudice humans of the earth can live another day in a corrupt, broken world to piss each other off and to make no money," she mumbled as she left.

* * *

A/N: Okay, so that chapter sucked. I'm sorry. It's just that my wrist is hurting like a bitch and I'm tired so I can't think properly. But I would still greatly appreciate it if you'd review, like I said, to let me know what you like, dislike, and would like to see in the future in this fic. 5 reviews for me to update. Come on people, I'm depending on you. I have nothing to do this summer so I need to write.

Thanks so much to –

shygirl1 – I have a thing for cliffhangers. LOL

HoneyX5-452 – Glad you liked the strip poker idea.

meri24 – Thanks so much for your encouragement!

MoonAngel23 – Thanks! If you'd like, I have another story called "Whose Love?" It is heavily Max/Zack, so if you're looking for some MZ stuff, go there. There's LOTS of it.

Thanks everyone and plz keep reviewing! 5 reviews for me to update! I hope you guys still like this story. Also, I have a new MA fic out; you might want to read it. And for those patiently waiting for an update of Whose Love, it's coming soon.

See that button. The review button. Plz push it. Pretty plz? With a cherry on top? It'll only take a sec and it makes my day. Thanks everyone! –aod78


	19. Making Magic

A/N: I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update. (Please don't hurt me; it's only been a week) LOL I hope you guys are enjoying this story, but everyone who's reading this, please speak up and review. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, feedback/constructive criticism, what you'd like to read… Plz review! 6 reviews for me to update!

* * *

A girl with long brown hair and crystal clear blue eyes walked the streets of Seattle with her hands buried deep in the pockets of her jeans to keep her warm. She was of about 12 years old but no one noticed her as she walked past them. After all, it was a Post-Pulse city and they were used to seeing children being by themselves on the streets. Only those with kind hearts brought the children in from the cold.

Strangely, even though it was fairly chilly outside, the winds whistling in her ears, she didn't feel the least bit cold. It was actually more of a gentle breeze on her skin.

She didn't know where she was going really; she just knew that she had to keep on walking. She needed to find a place to stay before nightfall, a place where she could rest. Not sleep, exactly, because she found out she didn't really have the need to sleep. She could go days before feeling the least bit tired. No, she needed a place to let herself relax, a place where _they_ couldn't find her.

_They_ were a group of people that have been looking for her for a few years. All of a sudden, though, about a year ago, they stopped. She hadn't seen head or tail of them, but she wouldn't let down her guard. She knew that although she _thought_ they were gone, she could very well be wrong. And even if they were truly gone, that didn't mean there weren't others. She knew there were because she had been feeling like she had been watched a lot recently.

She tried to rid her head of the images that had come flowing back at the thought of the people who had been looking for her, but she couldn't. She forced herself not to cry, for some reason crying made her feel like she was weak, like she had to be stronger. Or like she _was_ stronger, and shouldn't be showing a weakness. She would only show her weaknesses in front of those who loved her, and now, because of those people, they were gone, and she had no one left.

_Flashback_

_She had come home from school early when she had felt it wasn't safe to stay there. She didn't understand the feeling, but throughout the past few years she had come to trust her gut instinct._

_As soon as she had approached her house, she had felt a strong sense of foreboding. She hadn't gone inside; she felt that if she had she would be trapped with nowhere to go. Instead, she stealthily snuck up to a window on the side of her house without making any noise. She didn't know how she could move so quietly without being heard, but then again there were many mysteries as to her past. She peered in and immediately regretted her decision. Her stomach lurched and she fought the urge to throw up._

_There, inside, her mother, father, 2 year old brother and baby sister lay dead; all of their eyes open with terror. Her mother and father both had a bullet entry wound in the middle of their foreheads, and her brother and sister's necks lay at a strange angle. She fought tears at the horrific scene, but controlled her emotions and ducked down when she saw men in black uniforms hiding throughout the house. She could see some hiding behind the doors, their reflections seen in the mirror across from them._

_They seemed to be waiting for something, an all of a sudden it hit her. They weren't waiting for something, but someone. Her. They were waiting for her to come home._

_She turned around and ran from the house, ran as far as she could. She found herself on a highway, and made her way to a gas station where a truck was loading itself up with gas. She considered running in there screaming, to call the police and report that her family had been murdered, but once again her gut stopped her._

_Don't draw attention to yourself,_ _she had thought. She was startled at the words, but listened to them anyway. She jumped into the bed of the truck and hitchhiked. Soon they were off and rolling, and finally after what seemed like hours of driving, they passed a sign that said, "Welcome to Seattle". _

_Once the truck got into the main part o the city, she jumped off and landed with startling grace. _

_End Flashback_

And that was how she found herself walking down the streets of Seattle, looking for a place to stay. A rustling at her foot caught her attention, and she looked down and picked up a piece of paper.

"Coalition for a transgenic-free Seattle," she read to herself. "Those who want to take a stand and get rid of the transies, contact Griffin Howard, leader of the union."

For some unknown reason she felt angry towards this Griffin Howard person. Didn't he understand that these transgenics just wanted a place in the world, wanted to be accepted?

She felt a bizarre kind of kinship with these transgenics. She had heard a lot about them on the news back where she came from, but she knew the news crews were being biased. They just wanted a place in the world.

_Like me,_ she thought. _I need to find my place. I thought it was with my family but although I loved them, I know I didn't belong with them. We were too different; we didn't look alike at all or act alike. I wonder if my parents ever knew that I knew I was adopted._

She remembered something about the transgenics. _They're hiding out in a place called Terminal City. Maybe they'll let me stay with them._ _I know I'm not like them, but maybe they'll be kind enough to give me a place to stay._

With that, she headed off to Terminal City.

* * *

Faith rushed around frantically, searching for her sister in every room. Finally she found her talking to Ruby in the recreation room.

"We need the worst stuff we can get, and the more the better. We're getting more people in here and there are more people than weapons that they can use to defend themselves," Max was saying. "I want everything, AK-47s, Bazookas, Glocks, sniper rifles, small handguns, anything. Grenades, anything and everything we used to use in live ordinance."

Ruby chuckled. "This coming from the woman who won't touch a gun and hates to be in the same room as one."

Max looked at her dead in the eye. "We're losing too many people and weird stuff is going on that we don't understand. The Coming is coming, and we don't even understand what it is. There's that whole funky prophecy thingy too. I thought that those little black runes were gone but they're popping up again. There's no time to be scared of anything, no time for hesitation. Guns may not be on my Christmas list like it is for Zack, Alec, and Syl, but if worst comes to worst I will use one." She lightened up a bit. "Don't think ten years has made me a bad shot. I used to excel in target range, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember baby sister," Ruby said. "The others are getting ready to go on a few raids, and I'll be going with them in a few minutes. Logan thinks he's got a few leads on Zero's and Dawns whereabouts, and Alec, Mole, and Joshua are doing some recon to see if he's got the right place. The others are making good progress at sealing that door in the tunnel up, especially with Isabel and Michael making things float to lessen the work effort. Emerald's gone to get the ordinary gang, and some of the others have gone to do other things to help. Don't sweat it, Maxie. We all got your back. Just calm down and try to forget about your crummy-ass life right now."

"Gee, thanks," Max said dryly, but then she cracked a smile. "When we get Zero and Dawn back, we are gluing their asses to a chair. No more spontaneous evenings out."

"Ease up on them a little when they get back, though," Ruby said. "They're kids; they need to get out a little. Kids can't stay cooped up in a toxic area for long."

"Speak for yourself," Faith said, interrupting the conversation. She smirked as Ruby shot her a glare, and then turned serious as she looked at Max.

"411 on the DL? Dracula's gone," Faith said.

A look of exasperation came onto Max's face. "Gone? You're kidding me."

"Whoa, don't combust baby sister, we don't need a bonfire for a leader," Faith said.

Max looked at her with a dry expression on her face.

"You okay? You seem sort of stressed out," Faith deadpanned.

Max looked at her, her expression unchanged.

"Sorry," Faith apologized. "I just came to tell you that I'm gonna try to hunt the guy down. For all we know, he might lead us to Zero and Dawn."

Max finally nodded. "I'm going to buzz around, see what I can do. I might check up on Dix and Luke to see if they've made anymore progress with the tape."

All three women nodded and went their separate ways.

* * *

"Should've known you were behind this," Zero said.

"Who's this?" Dawn asked him. Then she registered his words. "This is White, isn't it?"

"Such a smart girl," White said.

"I'm talented," Dawn said. _You just have no idea how talented I am._

A door burst open and a vampire ran in.

"Looks like your friends have lost their bargaining chip," White commented to Dawn and Zero.

"Looks like you've lost your sanity," Zero shot back.

White looked at him. "I am quite sane. You, however, and your little friend won't be when I'm through with you. You'll be just as nuts as my dear wacko brother."

"Poor Sandeman," Zero said, unknowingly repeating the exact words Max had told White a few months earlier. "One son's a wacko, the other a psychopath. Kinda feel for the guy."

"You will shut up about that idiot who created all you filth!" White yelled. "You have no idea what you're talking about little boy, you have no idea at all. He put you on this earth, created you, to be shunned and hated, feared. And yet you feel for him."

"I don't really think the guy knew that all the transgenics would be released," Dawn pointed out.

"Quiet!" he shouted.

"Have I mentioned how much this sounds like Manticore?" Zero asked Dawn.

"Yup," she said. She looked at the three people in front of them.

"So, are we gonna let them go now that I'm back?" the newcomer vampire asked.

"No, idiot," Mota said. "We're going to be exchanging them for the Slayers."

"You're both idiots," White said. "We're going to pretend to exchange them for 452, but when we have her in our custody then we'll kill them."

"Now seems like a good time to bail," Dawn whispered.

"How exactly are we going to ditch, Psycho, Dumb and Dumber?" Zero whispered back.

"By leaving this warehouse," she whispered back again. "Leave it up to me." She closed her eyes and concentrated hard to make a portal open up. White looked up at the sudden gust of wind.

"What the hell is she doing?" he screamed through the wind.

Dawn and Zero got up and ran towards the portal and walked through it. Immediately, the portal closed behind them, leaving White and the two vampires alone in the room.

* * *

Dawn and Zero looked around at their surroundings. They were on a farm and saw many cows being milked, farmers working hard under the harsh sun.

"Um, Dawn?" Zero asked. "Something tells me we're not in Kansas anymore."

* * *

A/N: Hey guys! Okay, I'm really sorry about that crummy chapter. And if Dawn's powers don't actually work that way, I'm sorry too. I've never actually seen a show where she opens up a portal so I may have written that wrong. If someone could give me a rundown of all the powers the slayers and Dawn have, and how to use them, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm sorry that this chapter hasn't been my best, but I really wanted to get something out because you guys have been waiting so patiently. Plz review everyone and give me some feedback. I hope you guys weren't disappointed. 6 reviews to get me to update!

Enormous thanks to –

MoonAngel23 – Thanks! No MZ in this chapter, I'm sorry. But I'm gonna update "Whose Love" soon so look out for it!

screaminheathen69 – Thanks!

morgan000 – Yay! A new reviewer! Thanks!

shygirl1 – Thanks! Plz update "What's Next" soon. And about what Logan believes will make Max his, that's gonna come later. Or is it here already? LOL Dun dun dun…

HoneyX5-452 – Thanks!

meri24 – Thanks!

Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers! I'm sorry if this chapter was a disappointment, I hope it wasn't! 6 reviews for me to update and plz give me some feedback. BTW, those who like MZ, I have a fic called "Whose Love" and for those who like MA, I have a fic called "Love Can Be Found Anywhere, Even In Hell". I'd appreciate it if you'd read and review. –aod78


	20. Raven, The 10, I Mean 12 Year Old

A/N: I hope you like this chapter. I just want to tell you that I'm leaving in a few days for vacation but I'll only be gone about 3 days, so I won't be able to update after this for a week or so. Please review and give me feedback, a little surprise for me when I get back? LOL 6 reviews for me to update. For the long wait, I made this 12 pages long. (Not including the A/Ns)

* * *

The girl stood outside the Terminal City gates, looking for a way in. She whirled around when she heard a noise, but to her relief it was only a cat. She frowned as she saw more come out from an alley. Correction: about a dozen cats.

She waved her hands at them. "Go away. Shoo!"

The cats ignored her and proceeded to form a circle around her, some coming up to rub her legs. They meowed and she cracked a smile. She had always had this thing with cats; every time she was around them they would come up to her and be affectionate. Even her neighbour's cranky old cat Ms. Puss seemed less cranky around her. She had never understood it, but accepted it just like she accepted all the other strange things about her. She bent down and scratched behind a ginger cat's ears, and it purred happily. She had always known how to please cats, had always known what they wanted. Once, when her school had taken her to the zoo, a lion had been getting out of hand and the trainers had no idea what to do. She had instinctively reached out to calm the lion, which would have been an incredibly stupid thing to do had she not known that it would not harm her. Then she had stated calmly like it was the most natural thing in the world that the lion was restless because he was away from his mate, who was soon going to be having cubs.

The other cats sauntered up to her to be petted as well but she stood up, picking up the ginger cat as well. She looked at it straight into its cat eyes.

"Do you want to come with me?" she asked it, almost as if she was expecting an answer. "I could use a friend."

The cat purred in response and she turned back to the fence. She closed her eyes and just stood there, the cat in her arms. She needed to get over that fence to get to Terminal City where the transgenics were, but she didn't know how. So she did what she usually did at times like this. She relaxed and listened to her instincts, let them guide her, and then she acted without thought.

She backed up with her eyes still closed and rushed at the fence, the cat tucked protectively under her left arm, and jumped. She felt herself flying through the air and as she felt herself fall she placed the cat against her chest and somersaulted on the ground to come up to a standing position. She finally opened her eyes and blinked, looking back at the fence she had seemingly just jumped over.

She felt amazed at herself. She had no idea how she just jumped a 15 foot fence, but she felt proud. She had felt a rush of exhilaration when she had sailed through the air but looking down at her newly adopted cat, it didn't agree with her. Its claws were dug deep into her shirt, as if clinging on for dear life.

"You didn't like that did you, Ginger?" she said.

"Who are you talking to?" a voice said from behind her. She turned around and found a rifle pointed at her. She shrieked and backed up.

"Please don't hurt me," she said at the lizard-man. Two other men were with him, one that resembled a dog and the other one completely normal.

_These must be transgenics, _she thought.

The normal looking man pushed the lizard guy's rifle away.

"Don't scare the poor kid, Mole. You'll make her wet her pants," the man said.

At this her face took on a look of indignation. "I would not," she said crossly.

"Who are you?" the dog-man asked in a rather gentle voice.

"And tell the truth," the transgenic named Mole said and the human-looking man chuckled.

"Why wouldn't she tell the truth?" he asked Mole. "Who do you think she is, some undercover spy for the government? She's what, 10?"

"12 actually," she said, irritated. She lowered her voice. "I think."

"So who are you?" Mole asked again.

"The truth?" she said to him. "I have absolutely no idea."

The three transgenics looked at each other.

"Great. Not only do we have loony Familiars, vampires, and possibly aliens on our case, we also have a bunch of missing transgenics, a magical teenager who disappeared into thin air and now a 10 year old with an identity crisis on our hands," the normal-looking guy said. "The world's turning into a fricking circus."

* * *

Dawn and Zero walked up to a farmhouse at the side of the road and knocked on the door. They waited until a plump woman with a kind-looking face answered the door.

"May I help you two dears?" she asked them. "You look lost."

"We are ma'am," Zero said. "Could you please tell us where we are?"

The woman took on a bemused expression. "You two really are lost. Running away from home perhaps?"

Dawn and Zero looked at each other. "Not… exactly," Dawn answered. _More like running away from a bunch of psychos. _

"Come in," the woman said, gesturing for them to come inside. "My name's Anita."

"I'm Dawn," Dawn said, "and this is Zero."

Anita looked at Zero weirdly and he shrugged with an easy smile. "My folks are strange." Anita nodded in understanding and led them down a hall.

"Now, Charlie should be home in about an hour but I doubt he would mind if you youngsters stay for awhile," Anita said. "We love children." She looked at them sadly. "We've never been able to have any, you see."

"We're really not going to stay long – " Zero started but Dawn cut him off. "We'd love to stay, thank you," she said gratefully.

They walked up a winding staircase to the very top floor and she opened a door.

"You two can stay here," Anita said. "I'm sorry, but there's only one bed."

Dawn and Zero looked at each other uneasily before answering, "That's alright."

Anita smiled and said, "I'll see you two down in the kitchen after you get settled in." It was then that she noticed their lack of luggage. "No clothes?" she asked.

"We left in a hurry," Zero said.

"I'm sure that I could find some things for the both of you," Anita said, smiling brightly. "I'll let you rest and freshen up before dinner which should be in an hour."

She turned and headed back down the staircase and Zero turned to Dawn.

"Look, I know you probably feel bad for her because she can't have kids, but we can't stay. So just, open up a door thingy and get us out of here," Zero said.

"Sorry," Dawn said, looking apologetic. "It takes a lot of energy for me to open up a portal and my powers are sort of sapped from the first portal I opened up. It's kind of hard for me because I've only just started to be able to control my power properly. It'll be awhile before I'm able to open one up again."

Zero ran his fingers through his hair in a frustrated gesture.

"Okay, no problem. At least we're away from creepy White and his blood-sucking freaks," Zero said. He blew out a breath. "I'm a soldier. I can figure this out. Step number one, assess the problem." He looked around. ""Easy enough. We're stranded in God knows where. Step two, get all the facts." He looked at Dawn. "We need to figure out where we are first and how far from Seattle we really are. For all we know, we can just be on the outskirts or something."

"Here's hoping," Dawn said as they descended the stairs.

Anita looked up from her spot near the stove in the kitchen. "There you are," she said. "Would you mind helping me set the table?"

Dawn took four plates and Zero took all the eating utensils.

"So, where are we exactly?" Dawn asked.

"Why, we're in Oklahoma, darling," Anita said cheerfully.

Dawn heard a clatter and saw that Zero had dropped all the forks and spoons. She herself was having trouble holding the plates so she put them on the table before she shattered them.

_We are so screwed.

* * *

_

"I can't believe I'm down in a dirty tunnel doing hard labour," Isabel complained. She groaned as a bunch of soot and ash fell from the ceiling and she waved her hand over her body, the dirt disappearing immediately.

"Believe it princess," Michael said. "It's not exactly my dream place either. Besides, you've done gritty things before. How about when you filled in for Liz as waitress at the Crashdown?"

She didn't get a chance to reply because Maxwell appeared behind them. "Stop whining," he said. Isabel rolled her eyes at him.

"Like you can talk, dear brother of mine," she said. "You're not doing anything."

"The concrete's drying before we can place it," a mule-looking transgenic said and Max walked up to the slabs of concrete and proceeded to melt them.

Isabel rolled her eyes again as Max walked back to them. "Ooh, so you melted something. Big deal. You know, I told Topolsky that I wanted to be a supermodel, not a construction worker."

"Deal with it," Michael said.

"Finished!" several of the transgenics cried out.

"Finally!" Isabel cried, intending to hightail it out of there as fast as she could, but Max stopped her.

"Did you call mom and dad to tell them that we were fine?" he asked.

"Yeah," Isabel said. "They said that it was really nice of our friends to invite us to stay here in Seattle and that one day they would like to meet them. I really hate lying to them Maxwell. If we could just tell – "

"We can't tell them Isabel!" Max said. "We just can't. We'll just put them in more danger if they know what we are."

She bowed her head and muttered, "Fine," before walking off.

* * *

"Did you guys find out anything?" Max asked Dix and Luke as soon as she walked through the door to HQ.

"Yeah," Dix said. "Look at this."

Max bent over his shoulder and stared intently at the computer screen. Before her were the sentries on duty outside the hidden door. Then in the blink of an eye, they disappeared.

"Okay," Max said. "That was weird."

"We talked to Max," Luke said. "He just left. He said he had never really seen anything like it but that maybe a certain type of alien would be able to cloak or disguise them or something, or maybe just make them disappear completely. He was just as surprised as you are, though."

"Maxie," Zack said walking into the room. "What's going on?"

She looked at him quizzically. "Aren't you supposed to be out with the others on raids?"

Zack shrugged. "Yeah, but Alec told me to come back because he said something about needing to talk to some of my contacts."

"Why would that be?" she said to herself and the door opened and the person in question walked in, squabbling with a girl on his right, Mole and Joshua trailing behind.

Max raised an eyebrow. "Isn't she a little young for you Alec?" she asked. "Besides, I thought you had a thing with my sister."

He shot her a dirty look. "We found this 10 year old inside the fence. No idea how she got over it though."

The girl looked at him angrily. "I told you I'm 12!"

Alec shrugged. "Same difference."

The girl scoffed and turned away from him, petting a ginger cat in her arms. Max felt an electric shock go through her body as she saw the girl's face.

_She looks so familiar, _she thought. _But I know I've never seen her before. I would have remembered someone with such unique features. Not many people have dark brown hair with blue eyes._

The girl looked up and their eyes met.

_She reminds me of someone, _the girl thought. She felt a strange and irrational pull towards this woman, felt drawn to her as if she belonged.

"Do you know who I am?" the girl asked Max.

"Why would she?" Zack asked. The girl looked at him and felt another shock go through her. She was drawn to him too, just like she was drawn to the woman. She looked around the room. She felt drawn to all of them. She felt as if this was where she belonged, with all the transgenics.

_But that's silly, _she thought. _I'm not a transgenic. I've been with my family for almost my whole life._

"This kid claims she doesn't know who she is," Alec said.

Max frowned at her. "What do you mean you don't know who you are?"

"Well, I was adopted when I was really small, so I don't know who I really am. My family named me Raven though," she said, tugging at her dark locks.

Max closed her eyes and massaged her temple. "I'm getting a headache," she moaned. She was silent for a second then she opened her eyes again.

"First things first," she said. "Alec, why did you tell Zack to come back?"

"We're going to need some of his contacts to help us search for Dawn and Zero. We saw them at the warehouse Logan told us to go to, and then we saw White and two vampires arguing. Want to know the freaky thing? Dawn did something and it opened up a door thing and they walked right through. We have absolutely no idea where they are now," Alec explained.

"Dawn did what?" Buffy said, walking in with Spike and Willow right behind her. "She's only just begun to control her power, who knows where they are! The portal could have taken them halfway around the world or to some unheard of land!"

"And I thought our lives were screwed up in Manticore," Dix murmured. "Now we have magical stuff happening too."

"Can't she just open up another portal and come back?" Max asked desperately.

Buffy shook her head. "It takes a lot of her energy to open one up in the first place. It'll be awhile before she can do it again. That's why I told her not to do it."

"She didn't have much choice," Alec said. "They had to get away from White. The million dollar question is what the hell is he doing with vampires?"

"Maybe they're friends," Raven pointed out.

Mole snorted. "Listen kid, White's only friends are guns and dead people. Catch my drift?"

"He's into necrophilia?" Raven asked, her eyebrows knit together.

Alec laughed. "I love this kid, she cracks me up."

"I could try to scry for them," Willow offered.

"Come again?" Mole asked.

"I'm a witch," Willow said. "There's a way for looking for people by using a pendant and hanging it over a map. It should drop at their location."

"Okay, why don't you go do that," Max said. "I want some of you to do some recon at that warehouse. Find out what White's doing there with vampires, how many Familiars there are or whatever he has there. Dix, Luke, can you guys give them some mini cameras and tape recorders for them to plant there. 450 meg would be great. The rest of you can relax for awhile."

Almost everyone left except for Alec, Joshua, Mole, Zack, Dix, Luke and Raven.

"How'd you get into Terminal City in the first place?" Max asked Raven, who was currently still petting her cat.

"Jumped," she said nonchalantly, stroking Ginger.

All the adults in the room shared a look. "Jumped where?" Max asked.

"Over the fence," Raven said. She noticed the surprised and confused looks on everyone's faces. "What?"

"Check her neck," Max told Alec, who strode forward and pulled down the collar of her turtleneck.

"Hey buddy, hands off!" Raven yelled and Alec let go with a shake of his head.

"No barcode," he said.

"Of course not," Raven said, rubbing her neck. "I'm not a transgenic." She screwed up her face in a thoughtful expression. "I don't think."

"What do you mean 'you don't think'" Max asked, exasperated. "You're an ordinary. Where are your parents?"

She watched Raven's face turn sad. "They're dead."

"How did they die?" she asked, her tone gentler now.

"Military people killed them," Raven said quietly, her eyes threatening to start tearing. "I came home from school one day, but I didn't go into the house."

"Why not?" Joshua asked.

"Had a feeling. Like something was wrong," Raven said. "I get those a lot. I can do things no one else can do. I'm strange."

"Got it in one, cupcake," Mole said and Max glared at him.

"I peeked in through the window," Raven continued, "and I saw my parents and my baby brother and sister lying in there, dead. I saw military people hiding inside. Well, I heard them first. I can hear from very far. Anyways, I ran. I jumped on the back of a truck and it brought me here to Seattle."

"Why did you come to Terminal City?" Zack asked. "Most ordinary kids are afraid of transgenics."

Raven shook her head. "I'm not. I understand. You guys just want to live your lives peacefully in this world. You want to be accepted, to have a place."

"That's deep coming from a 10 year old," Luke said.

She turned and glared at him, Ginger hissing as well. "I'M 12!"

He backed up a little. Her crystal blue eyes had turned to ice.

"Sorry kid," Luke said. "Sheesh."

"What I'm wondering," Mole said, "is how an ordinary kid can hear from really far away and can jump a 15 foot fence."

"I don't know," Raven said. "Can I just stay here, though? Please? I don't know where I can go."

"Sure sweetie," Max said. "We can find you a place to stay in here. And we'll try to figure out how a kid like you has such remarkable talents."

She started to walk towards her but Raven stopped her.

"Ginger's hungry," she said, pointing to her cat. "Can she have some food to eat?"

"How do you know if she's hungry?" Max asked. She had also got that impression from the cat. Her feline DNA put her more in tune with cats' emotions.

Raven shrugged. "I've always had this thing with cats," she said. "I can understand what they want."

Max observed her with an expression of wonder. "I'll take you to the mess hall in a minute. You must be hungry. Just stand over there for a second. I need to talk with my friends."

Raven obeyed and stood away from them, though with her hearing she could still hear every word they said easily. It was even amplified.

"She can't be a transgenic, can she?" Max asked the others. "I mean, she said she grew up with a family for her whole life and she doesn't have a barcode."

"Maybe not all the series have barcodes," Alec said.

"I think they do," Zack said. "Joshua's the only one who doesn't since he's the first. But the rest do."

"Joshua, special," Joshua said.

"I don't know how she can not be a transgenic," Dix said. "I mean, the military, the abilities she has… Why would the military be after her if she isn't a transgenic?"

"Beats me," Luke said.

"Well, the kid's weird, that's for sure," Mole said. "She's listening to us right now, you know."

They all looked over at her and saw that she was just stroking her cat, put they noticed that one ear was raised slightly.

Alec chuckled. "You can stop pretending not to listen you know. We know you can hear us."

Raven finally looked at them. "Then why did you bother to talk away from me in the first place?"

"The kid's got a point," Alec said.

The door to HQ burst open and Logan burst through.

"Would someone get Spike off my back?" he asked, but stopped short when he saw Raven and he paled. He pointed a shaky finger at her.

"What are you doing here?" he asked hoarsely.

* * *

A/N: I hope you liked that. Please review, I worked hard on this chapter. 12 pages! My fingers are sore. So plz plz plz review!

Thanks to –

morgan000 – Thanks!

MoonAngel23 – Thanks!

meri24 – Thanks! I made Dawn non-annoying because, well, it's annoying. LOL The only person that I want to be annoying for now is Logan.

shygirl1 – Thanks!

HoneyX5-452 – Thanks!

screaminheathen69 – Thanks for the info and for the review!

Thank you to everyone. Please keep reviewing and if you could, recommend this to your friends. I would love the feedback. Please check out my other stories, and if you like MA, then Love Can Be Found Anywhere, Even In Hell is the one for you. Thanks everyone. 6 reviews to update plz!


	21. Mysterious Identities

A/N: Hey guys! If you like MA, please check out "Love Can Be Found Anywhere, Even In Hell", and "Ooh Baby". Please review and give me feedback!

* * *

"How could you have lost them White?" a voice said on the other end of his phone. "We needed them to get 452. She's the key and we can't afford to have her alive. She could ruin everything we've worked so hard for. On top of that, we still don't know the full prophecy. That's one thing they have that we don't: knowledge of the prophecy. And I don't like the fact that they have more knowledge than us on such a serious matter."

"It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be," White said into his phone. "The girl we kidnapped had strange powers. She opened up a door out of nowhere and she and the transgenic kid went through it. I talked to Vlad and he said that she was one of the Slayer's sister, and had the ability to open portals. I wasn't aware of that, and I won't underestimate her again."

"We need leverage over 452, Brother White. And we need it fast. The Coming is approaching. We can't waste any more time," the voice said.

"I will figure something out," White assured. "Don't worry."

"See that you do," the voice said. There was a click and then White was met with a dial tone.

"Portals," White said to himself. "How fucked up can the world get?"

* * *

"What do you mean, 'what are you doing here?'" Zack asked. "Do you know who she is?"

Logan's brain worked furiously. _I can't let them know who or what she is or my leverage will be blown. What is she doing here anyway? Did her parents plan a vacation to Seattle or something?_

"No, I don't," Logan lied feebly. "I – um – I thought she was someone else. That's all."

"You sure looked like you knew her," Alec contradicted.

"Well I don't," Logan snapped. He looked around at all the suspicious faces and knew that they didn't believe him, so he figured the best way to get out of the heated situation was to leave.

"I'm going to try to find out where Dawn and Zero are," he said as he hurriedly walked out.

"He knows something about me," Raven said, stating the obvious. "Why doesn't he want to tell me?" She looked slightly miffed. "I've been waiting forever to figure out who I am and he won't tell me."

"I'll get Spike to tail him for awhile, keep tabs on what he's doing," Alec said with a grin. "That should give him some fun."

"Meanwhile, I'm going to take Raven to the mess hall for something to eat," Max said.

"Ginger too?" Raven asked, pointing to her newly adopted cat.

"Sure, I think we can find something," Max answered, leading her to the door. "Come get me as soon as you've got something. I'll be in my office."

* * *

"Hello there," Raven greeted as Max led her through the halls. "How're you doing?" she said to another anomaly. "You should eat spinach. It gives you more iron," she said to a third transgenic who looked particularly sleepy. She continued on like this, offering advice to random transgenics as they walked through the halls. Max couldn't help but laugh at this girl. She was a riot. A breather from all the disasters happening around her.

"You're quite a character," Max told her as they rounded a corner.

"I aim to please," Raven said with a smile. She didn't know what it was, but she felt like she had a connection to this woman. She made her feel… safe. Something she hadn't felt ever since she realized there were hidden cameras in her room where she undressed at night, people tailing her everywhere she went, and when her family was killed. She didn't know what it was, but she felt like she belonged with all these hybrids.

_Just another lost person trying to fit into the world, _she thought.

"You better lock yourself up tight next week," Raven said out of the blue. Max frowned, her forehead creasing in confusion.

"_You better lock yourself up tight next week," _Raven had said. Max pondered this for a minute before her eyes widened with surprise. Next week would be when she would go into heat.

"How – " she started to ask but Raven shrugged.

"I just know," she said. Max took on a bemused smile. She was full of surprises and mysteries. How did she know so much about transgenics and especially about cats? Max thought about her being a transgenic once more, but dismissed it.

_She doesn't even have a barcode. And she grew up with a family, not in Manticore._

"Here we are," Max announced. "Go inside and get whatever you want. The food's not exactly gourmet, but it's better than nothing."

"Thanks," Raven said. "By the way, relax. Things will work out in the end. You've just got to fight back and not let them get you down."

"Them?" Max asked. "The ordinaries?"

"No," Raven replied. "The ones who pose a bigger threat to you guys." Then she entered without saying another word, leaving Max standing with a puzzled expression on her face.

* * *

Dawn lay down in the bed next to Zero, but made sure to stay on the opposite end. They lay in uncomfortable silence knowing that neither would fall asleep anytime soon.

"I'm thinking we head out tomorrow morning and get to an airport," Zero said finally.

"How are we going to get money for that?" Dawn asked. Zero just shot her a look that told her everything.

"Oh," was all she said.

"I figure since it's going to be awhile before you can use your powers again, we might as well get as close to Seattle as we can, if not get back to Terminal City," he said.

"Okay," she said. She wasn't really used to this kind of thing so she let Zero take charge.

"Well," Zero said awkwardly. "Good night."

"Night," she replied. They turned away from each other and shallowed their breathing, but they still lay wide awake.

"Zero?" Dawn asked tentatively.

"What?" he said.

"I'm – uh – I'm glad that at least you're here with me," she said.

Zero turned over and so did she. He smiled. "Right back atcha."

Finally she figured, "what the hell", and snuggled in close to him. 5 minutes later they were asleep, off to explore their dreams.

* * *

Emerald walked into Crash, careful to keep her hood up over her barcode. She spotted Maria, Sketchy, Herbal and Original Cindy and walked toward them in time to hear the end of Herbal's comment.

"I'm de instrument of de most high," he said. "I explained dat to Normal, but he jus' don't overstand."

"Normal's an idiot," Cindy said. "Though I gotta admit, it was pretty cool when he delivered Gem's baby."

"Guys," Emerald said, interrupting them. "I gotta ask you a few favours."

"Sure thing," Maria answered. "Please tell me it doesn't involve anything supernatural with either the Czechoslovakians, or the other two."

Emerald raised an eyebrow at the Czechoslovakian comment, but shook her head.

"No," she said. "We just need you to promote transgenics, get the word out there that we're not all bad. You guys wanted something to do before, so here it is. Sketchy, Max is offering to do an interview with you for New World Weekly."

"Really?" he said hopefully, his eyes shining. "She will?"

"Yup," Emerald said. "Your tabloid is going to be the only thing that's pro-transgenic. It's bound to sell out. The rest of you can spread the word, hand out pro-transgenic flyers; show that we're not all bad."

"You got it," Original Cindy said. "I've got some experience selling info from back when I worked in some stupid insurance company. Gig was a bust, though."

"Great," Emerald answered. She turned to leave. "I need to get some other stuff done so I'll see you guys later."

"So Sketchy. What are you going to ask Max about?" Maria asked him with a smile on her face. As Sketchy proudly explained what he wanted to do, Herbal and Original Cindy turned to each other with knowing glances.

"We're outta here, boos," Cindy said. "Now, you children just don't become PDA offenders. Okay?"

"Nice going, my brotha," Herbal said to Sketchy, and then they were off.

Sketchy shrugged and continued telling Maria about his ideas.

* * *

"A fortnight," someone whispered to themselves, seated comfortably in a big armchair looking at a timer counting down slowly. "A fortnight until the Coming. And then, the world will be purified."

A maniacal laugh came from the figure's mouth, and then it grew louder until the room reverberated with the eerie sound.

* * *

A/N: Please give me feedback everyone! I'm not sure many people are still reading this.

Thanks to –

HoneyX5-452 – Thanks! About Raven, that's not a stupid idea at all. (Grins) But I guess you'll just have to read on and see.

shygirl1 – Thanks!

meri24 – Thanks! About how Logan knows her, you'll just have to read on and see. LOL

morgan000 – Thanks!

MoonAngel23 – Thanks! About Raven, read on and see. :)

alias-mylife26 – Thanks! It's awesome to have a new reviewer!

screaminheathen69 – Thanks!

Thanks to everyone who took the time to review! Please give me feedback and check out my other fics.


	22. Shredding Ties

A/N: I know it's been forever since an update, but I thought no one was interested in this until people kept reviewing asking me to update, so I'm sorry for the long wait. As I went over my chapters I realized there are many inconsistencies and stuff I could have written better, but for the time being I'm not going to redo them. Feedback would be really appreciated.

* * *

Logan slammed the door shut behind him and went straight to his drawers, opening and closing them quickly as he searched for the papers he had put away only a little while ago. Finally, he found the folder and rifled through its contents, eyes frantically scanning for the specific information he was looking for. He booted up his computer, unaware of the person who had silently snuck into the room and hidden inside his closet, watching him closely. The person grinned and razor sharp teeth glinted as they caught the light from the room.

Logan tapped his fingers impatiently, waiting for the internet to connect. Then he typed away furiously and stopped as he processed what was in front of him.

"They're dead?" Logan muttered. "But I checked up on them a little while ago. And how did that stupid girl get here?"

His eyes fell on the folder, and then he took out a pair of scissors and proceeded to cut the sheets up carefully, making sure that they would be impossible to read.

"I can't have anyone finding out what I know," he mumbled as he ripped the remaining pieces of paper to shreds. He stood up and deposited them in a garbage can, biting his lip. After standing there for a moment, he let out a sigh and walked out, evidently feeling better than a few minutes ago.

Spike stepped out of the closet when he heard Logan's retreating footsteps in the hall, and stepped over to the garbage can, fishing out the bits of paper. He stuck them inside one of his pockets and went over to the computer, which was still on.

_Amanda, Brent, Jimmy and Henrita Colms all found brutally murdered in their suburban home. Older daughter Raven Colms is nowhere to be found._

"Anyone ever tell you never to leave stuff you don't want people to see on?" Spike said. "Looks like Logie boy knows more than he's letting on."

He stepped away from the desk and saw his wallet sitting beside the telephone. He opened it up and grinned when he pulled out five crisp twenty-dollar bills.

"Thank you, Moneybags," he said, leaving the room to stalk his prey.

* * *

Raven hungrily stuffed her face with food, pausing only slightly to breathe now and then. Max watched with an amused look.

"You have a healthy appetite, don't you?" she asked.

"Am I a pig? Yes," Raven said. She looked at herself. "I'm surprised I'm not chubby."

"You're very up-front about things, aren't you?" Max asked.

"What's the point of skirting around something when the person is most likely going to find out about it anyways?" Raven pointed out.

"That's something Zack would say," Max said.

"Then he's very smart," she answered. "I can't say the same for that cocky guy, though."

"Alec?" Max asked. "He's an idiot, but you get past that after a while."

"I resent that comment," Alec said, sitting down beside Raven. "And here I was thinking we were starting to be friends."

"You'd need to be able to have an intelligent conversation first," she said jokingly.

Alec shook his head. "I think it's you who needs to work on your people skills."

Ginger hissed and reached out a paw to scratch him and he backed away.

"Why is everyone trying to mutilate my perfect body?" he whined.

"Because no one likes a showoff," Raven said. Alec frowned.

"You're irksome," he said.

"I'm impressed. That's a big word for you," Max said.

"Hey, leave the poor baby alone," Faith said, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"See? At least one person loves me," Alec said, smirking.

"I'm guessing it's for a very physical reason," Raven said under her breath, knowing fully that they would hear it.

Alec chuckled and ruffled her hair, avoiding her hand trying unsuccessfully to bat his arm away. "You have the same nasty humour as Max. If I didn't know any better I'd swear the two of you were related."

"What is it, Ginger?" Raven asked, as the cat arched her back and hissed. She looked at the entrance and saw Logan walk in.

"Oh, him," Raven said, patting her cat. "It's okay. We're going to find out what he knows about me. One way or another."

Max was a little unnerved by that comment. "What do you mean?"

She looked at Max, her face the epitome of innocence. "Nothing." She caught sight of the runes on Max's arm.

"What are those?" she asked sharply.

"Runes, depicting a prophecy or something equally strange," Max said. She studied Raven carefully. "Do you recognize them?"

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she remembered some strange chanting and seeing little figures like the runes on Max's arm.

_Rif'ta namost labra'ar quince'aras._

"Do you?" Max asked, repeating the question.

"No," Raven said, shaking her head. She had no idea where that memory had come from, but it scared her.

"Hey guys," Logan said, taking a seat beside them uninvited. "Raven," he said, nodding at the girl. She hardened her eyes, turning them an icy blue.

"Hi," she said coldly. Her brain registered that she had heard his voice before, on the phone. He had called her parents a few months ago.

_What does he know about me?_

"How is everybody?" he asked, attempting to make conversation. To his dismay, no one answered. He laughed uncomfortably.

"Okay then," he said. "I guess I'll just go."

"That might be a good idea," Alec said. Logan shot him a dirty look and stood up. As nonchalantly as she could, Raven stretched and stuck out her foot, effectively tripping Logan. Even Max couldn't contain her laughter. His face flushed with embarrassment and he stalked off.

"I take it back," Alec said. "You're a cool kid."

"Hey Spike," Faith greeted as the vampire walked up to them clutching something in his hands. "What did you find out?"

"He seemed in a hurry to shred this," he said, showing them the little scraps. "He definitely knows something about the lass. I was thinking we could get one of those alien guys to fix this. They can alter molecular structure, or something like that, right?"

"Yeah," Max said. Her face clouded over a little. "I'm just disappointed that he's lying to me." She pursed her lips. "You should get it to Max. I think he's at Liz's apartment. But knock first, okay? You might see something you might not want to see if you don't."

Spike wiggled his eyebrows. "Gotcha."

"How come that guy's teeth are so pointy?" Raven asked. "Does he need to go to the orthodontist?"

"He's a vampire," Faith said. Raven dropped her spoon.

"Don't worry," she assured. "He won't hurt you." Seeing her still-worried look, she added, "He's like a dog. You can train dogs not to bite, right? Well, he's trained. He's not a bad guy."

The girl shuddered. "The world's a really weird place."

"Tell me about it," Max said.

* * *

"How's Raven?" Zack asked as Max walked into her room.

"Fitting in," she said, throwing her jacket aside. "It's really strange, but I feel kind of connected to her."

"I know, me too," he said. "The thing that's really odd is that she acts like a transgenic and has superhuman abilities but she also has no barcode, no memory of Manticore and grew up with a family."

"Well, Spike found some papers Logan cut up," she said. She put her hands on her hips. "He obviously didn't want to find out about it. We're trying to see if Liz's boyfriend can restore it."

"Is he a good guy to her?" he asked. She laughed quietly and wrapped her arms around him.

"Don't go all overprotective big brother on him," Max said. "He could throw you across the room with those powers he has."

"Are you doubting me now?" he asked playfully, kissing her forehead.

"No, but I don't want you all beaten and bruised either," she said, kissing him back.

"How are you dealing with Logan?" he asked seriously.

"Honestly? I don't know," she said, pulling out of his embrace. "There are just so many things he seems to be keeping from me, even before we broke up." She sighed. "There are just so many loose ends, you know? Dawn and Zero are still missing, that room down there in the tunnels, now Raven… Every time we get something done around here another crisis happens."

He pulled her back towards him and rested his chin on top of her head. "One problem at a time. Don't wear yourself out, okay?" He grinned. "That's my job."

She kissed him again, longer this time. "I love you," she said.

"I love you too."

She closed her eyes and just rested her head against his chest, listening to the sounds of his heartbeat.

"Oh, I guess I should've knocked first."

Max groaned and saw Raven standing sheepishly in the doorway.

"They told me to come get you because Max is patching up the papers Spike found," she said.

"Coming," Max told her, and she skipped off.

"We desperately need a lock on our door and a 'do not disturb' sign," Zack said wearily, following her out the door.

* * *

"There are so many people here," Dawn said nervously, looking around the airport.

"That's good," Zero said. He discreetly showed her a fistful of money in his hand. "Look what we got."

"You stole from all these people?" she asked. "I don't feel right doing that."

"Look, it's either stealing or staying here forever," he said impatiently. "I've got enough for the both of us. We can take a flight to Phoenix, then transfer and take one to Idaho. We'll drive from there."

Dawn blew out a breath. "I feel so bad about leaving without saying goodbye to Anita."

"Dawn, now's not the time to dwell on that stuff," Zero said. "We've got to get back to Seattle." He tugged on her sweater and she followed him to the counter.

"Two tickets for flight 962 please," Zero said, shoving the money at the woman. She looked suspicious that they were paying in so many bills, instead of using a credit card like most people, but took the money anyway. A moment later she handed them their tickets.

"Aren't you two a little young to be traveling alone?" she asked.

"We're 16 ma'am," he said.

"Hmm," was all she said. They thanked her and quickly got in line for their plane which was about to board.

They just missed the menacing-looking man in a tie a little way down the line.

"I've found them," he said into his comm.

"Good. Hijack the plane and fly it to our headquarters," a voice said.

"What about the rest of the people?" he asked.

"Kill them."

* * *

A/N: Ooh. Dun dun dun… Please give me feedback because it would really be appreciated. And if you could, please check out some of my other fics. I've got some MAs you're sure to like, and they're written better than this one. If you're interested, drop by my forum too. 


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